Wall Street performance boosts Asian markets
Wall Street performance boosts Asian markets
TOKYO (AFP): Asia-Pacific stock markets ended stronger yesterday amid year-end window dressing and easing concerns over South Korea's financial crisis following a strong overnight performance on Wall Street.
Posting gains were the stock markets in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sydney, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Jakarta, Taipei, Shanghai and Auckland. Seoul and Manila were shut for a holiday while interest-rate concerns depressed Singapore.
Tokyo posted a 3.3-percent rebound on the year's final trading day, with investors reacting positively to a global pledge of support to cash-strapped South Korea, brokers said.
But, after a year marked by economic and financial woes in Japan and in the rest of Asia, the key Nikkei index ended at 15,258.74 -- 4,187.26 points or 21.5 percent lower than the first trading day on January 6.
It was the lowest annual closing in 12 years.
In Hong Kong, share prices rose 2.4 percent in pre-New Year window dressing following overnight gains on Wall Street, dealers said.
Frances Ng, an analyst with AGS Investment Services Ltd, said despite the gains the market was unstable.
"Today's market is mainly encouraged by significant gains on Wall Street and derivative-led buying at the end of this month... How about tomorrow? No one can be sure," said Ng.
The key Hang Seng Index gained 252.22 points to close at 10,755.21, following Wall Street's 1.5-percent gain overnight.
In Singapore, blue-chip stocks ended barely lower amid weak sentiment arising from a second round of interest rate increases announced in less than a month by key banks.
Analysts said the rate hike dealt yet another blow to the property sector, already jittery about oversupply, raising concerns among home owners about falling property values and increasing mortgage costs.
The blue-chip Straits Times Industrials index of the Stock Exchange of Singapore fell 3.11 points to end at 1,514.83 while the broader All-Singapore index was up 1.83 points to 422.25.
In Sydney, Australian shares rose almost 1 percent as institutions sought to end the last full day of the year on a high note amid optimistic waves from U.S. and European markets, brokers said.
The Australian Stock Exchange's key indicator, the All Ordinaries index, closed up 25.1 points at 2,601.4.
In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's key stock index surged 3.6 percent on year-end institutional window-dressing and boosted by speculation of mergers in the banking sector.
"Local funds were buying up bluechip stocks especially Malayan Banking Bhd. and Sime Darby Bhd," said Soh Meng Hui, head of research at Kuala Lumpur City Securities.
The Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange's 100-share weighted composite index soared 20.73 points to end at 589.39.
In Bangkok, Thai share prices closed up 2.0 percent on speculative buying in banking and energy stocks in thin trading, dealers said.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) broad-based index rose 7.05 points to 365.82 points, while the SET-50 select index gained 0.68 points to 25.55 points.
In Shanghai, the B shares, nominally reserved for foreign investors, closed 2.2 percent higher buoyed by sharp gains in Hong Kong, analysts said.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange's B share index closed 1.19 points higher at 55.38 points while the A share index of locally-traded stocks fell 6.46 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,244.77 points.
In Taipei, Taiwanese share prices rose 0.9 percent, led by plastics, construction and food stocks, as an overnight rise on Wall Street boosted sentiment, dealers said.
The Taiwan Stock Exchange weighted price index rose 69.12 points to 8,145. 77.
In Auckland, New Zealand stocks gained 1.5 percent on the back of offshore buying.
The NZSE-40 index added 33.32 points to close at 2,292.29 on a turnover of NZ$27.73 million (US$16 million).
In London, the FT-SE 100 index rose by 15.8 points to 5,128.2 in early trading. In Paris the CAC-40 index gained 22.41 points to 2,961.87.
In Frankfurt, the DAX index of 30 leading shares rose by 50.67 points to 4,248.04.