HONG KONG, April 2: Asian stocks mounted a strong rally on Wednesday, tracking an overnight surge on Wall Street as investors hoped the worst of the global credit crisis was over.

Tokyo and Hong Kong were each up more than four per cent in intraday trade and other markets were deep in positive territory, bringing relief across Asia after a punishing first-quarter 2008.

The advance came after all US benchmarks rose more than three per cent on Tuesday, when US investment bank Lehman Brothers and Switzerland’s UBS announced well-received new share issues to prop up their balance sheets.

Tokyo closed up 4.2 per cent, while Hong Kong was ahead 3.18 per cent at midday. Seoul gained 2.4 per cent, Taiwan added 2.2 per cent and Manila moved up 2.6 per cent -- the biggest one-day gain in the Philippines since January.

Sydney was up 2.6 per cent, Wellington rose 1.68 per cent, Hong Kong was up 3.18 per cent, Shanghai gained 0.56 per cent, Singapore advanced 2.56 per cent, Bangkok was 0.29 per cent higher and Mumbai was up 0.79 per cent.

Bucking the trend were Jakarta and Malaysia which shed 2.1 per cent and 0.9 per cent respectively.

TOKYO: Japanese share prices soared 4.21 per cent, ending above the key 13,000 points level after a Wall Street rally sparked by hopes of an easing of credit market woes.

Dealers said that a weaker yen against the dollar gave an additional boost to exporters.

The Nikkei-225 index rose 532.94 points to 13,189.36.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices closed sharply higher, up 3.18 per cent, tracking Wall Street’s rally on positive banking news and better-than-expected US economic data.

The Hang Seng index closed up 734.97 points at 23,872.43. Turnover was 114.68 billion Hong Kong dollars (14.73 billion US).

SYDNEY: Australian share prices closed up 2.6 per cent as investors scooped up financial stocks on hopes the worst of the credit crisis may be over.

Dealers said Australian shares closed at their highest level since early March on the back of support for finance stocks after share issues by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Switzerland’s UBS AG were well received.

The S&P/ASX 200 closed up 141.7 points at 5,502.9. Volume was 1.9 billion shares valued at 6.8 billion dollars (6.2 billion US).

SINGAPORE: Singapore share prices closed 2.56 perc ent higher on growing hopes that global financial turmoil is easing.

The Straits Times Index climbed 78.07 points to 3,124.61 on volume of 1.99 billion shares worth 2.60 billion Singapore dollars (1.88 billion US).

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices closed 0.9 per cent lower due to domestic political uncertainties, with palm oil stocks leading the fall.

The composite index lost 10.76 points at 1,239.65 on volume of 696.05 million shares valued at 1.37 billion ringgit (429 million US dollars).

JAKARTA: Indonesian share prices closed 2.1 per cent lower for the third straight day after consumer prices rose at a faster-than-expected pace in March.

The main index rose in the opening minutes as investors quickly accumulated select stocks on hopes that the market would track the huge gains on Wall Street on Tuesday, but the rally was short lived.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices closed up 1.68 per cent, swept along by a wave of positive global sentiment after Wall Street jumped higher.

The NZX-50 gross index rose 59.23 points to 3,592.79 on turnover worth 129 million dollars (101.7 million US).

MUMBAI: Indian share prices rose 0.79 per cent to snap two days of losses after Wall Street rocketed overnight.—AFP