HONG KONG, Feb 4: Asian markets were mostly higher on Wednesday as investors took heart from a rare piece of good news from the United States’ economy.
Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul all recorded healthy gains of between two and three per cent on the back of an unexpected jump in US home sales for January.
And Shanghai added more than two per cent on hopes for better liquidity among banks after news that lending had increased. There was also optimism the government will announce further stimulus moves to boost the economy.
However, Sydney was two per cent lower on a day the world’s biggest miner BHP Billiton announced a 56.5 per cent fall in first half profit.
TOKYO: Up 2.73 per cent. The Nikkei-225 gained 213.43 points to end at 8,038.94.
Traders said buying from foreign investors as well as domestic long-term investors such as pension funds supported gains in the market.
The market’s robust rise was a natural rebound after a three-day losing streak, Hiroichi Nishi, a broker at Nikko Cordial Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.
The yen’s rise also took a breather while there was buying, believed to be from pension funds, in late trading, Nishi said.
But dismal corporate earnings reports are posing risks going forward, analysts said.
Panasonic rose 11 yen or 1.02 per cent to 1,092, as it announced it was to cut 15,000 jobs.
Toyota Motor gained 4.51 per cent to 3,010, while Honda Motor added 6.31 per cent to 2,190.
HONG KONG: Up 2.3 per cent. The Hang Seng Index closed up 287.00 points at 13,063.89.China-related stocks were responsible for driving the market up following comments by Premier Wen Jiabao that raised expectations China will take fresh market-boosting measures.
Investors took Wen’s comments as a positive and speculated on any possible measures, YK Chan, a fund manager at Phillip Asset Management, told Dow Jones Newswires.
China Life Insurance jumped 4.6 per cent to $21.80 and China Construction Bank rose 4.5 per cent to 3.94.
Sinopec surged 4.1 per cent to $4.34 .
Property developers faced further downward pressure amid continued concerns of weakening homebuying interest.
Henderson Land fell 1.6 per cent to $27.55 .
SYDNEY: Down two per cent. The S&P/ASX 200 lost 70.8 points to 3,437.9.
The market was bracing for a disappointing results season and had been spooked by capital raising and poor earnings announcements from major companies, said CommSec analyst Juliette Saly.
The world’s largest mining company BHP Billiton closed flat at 29.77.
Qantas reported a 68.2 per cent dive in first-half pre-tax profit, and announced a 500-million-Australian-dollar capital raising plan. Its shares were frozen ahead of the announcement and resume trading Thursday.
Rio Tinto shed 2.8 per cent to 44.25.
ANZ Banking Group softened 3.1 per cent to 13.28 and National Australia Bank was 0.5 per cent lower at 19.45.
SHANGHAI: Up 2.28 per cent. The Shanghai Composite Index, which covers A and B shares, rose 46.94 points to a near four-month high at 2,107.75.
The state-run China Securities Journal reported Wednesday that January’s new yuan loans are likely to exceed 1.2 trillion yuan (175 billion dollars), far above December’s 771.8 billion yuan.
Steel producers were also among the day’s gainers. Baoshan Iron and Steel rose 2.0 per cent to 5.60 yuan.
Power equipment suppliers rose after the China Securities Journal reported China will invest 580 billion yuan this year in the power sector.—AFP
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