HONG KONG, April 1: Asian stocks closed mostly higher Tuesday but gains were capped amid mixed sentiment in the international economy, and after further subprime related losses were announced.
Trading in banking and finance stocks were hit late in the day after Swiss banking giant UBS wrote down 19 billion dollars in subprime-related losses.
Asian benchmarks had received some support after the US posted modest gains Monday as investors digested a regulatory overhaul proposal and a better-than-expected report on economic activity in the Midwest.
Investors pored over plans announced by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson which would allow the Federal Reserve oversight of Wall Street securities firms that now have access to the central bank’s emergency lending facilities.
Hong Kong was up 1.26 per cent, Wellington gained 1.82 per cent while Sydney rose a milder 0.1 per cent as Seoul closed steady. Singapore rose 1.0 per cent, Bangkok gained 0.77 per cent and Kuala Lumpur was up 0.20 per cent.
TOKYO: Japanese share prices rebounded by more than one per cent, shrugging off a sharp drop in business confidence as investors took their cue from an overnight rally on Wall Street.
The Nikkei-225 index rose 130.88 points to 12,656.42. Volume fell to 1.74 billion shares from 1.83 billion shares Monday.
Investors took their cue from Wall Street where US stocks posted modest gains Monday after a surprise improvement in business activity in the US Midwest.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices closed higher, up 1.26 per cent, as institutional investors bought up large-caps, a move that countered weak sentiment on the Shanghai bourse.
The Hang Seng index closed up 288.26 points at 23,137.46. Turnover was 78.03 billion Hong Kong dollars (10.03 billion US).
The market slipped into negative territory briefly during the afternoon as investors were unnerved by a more than four per cent drop on the Shanghai bourse, which was hit by monetary tightening fears.
SYDNEY: Australian share prices closed up 0.1 per cent, starting the second quarter of the year on a more positive note after the first quarter recorded the worst performance in 20 years.
The S&P/ASX 200 closed up 5.5 points at 5,361.2. Volumes were light, with 1.29 billion shares worth 4.73 billion dollars (4.33 billion US) traded.
SINGAPORE: Singapore share prices closed 1.30 per cent higher, tracking modest gains in US stocks after the worst quarterly performance in five years.
The Straits Times Index closed up 39.18 points at 3,046.54 on volume of 1.79 billion shares worth 1.72 billion Singapore dollars (1.25 billion US).
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices closed 0.2 per cent higher as investors avoided making aggressive bets amid a lack of fresh leads.
The composite index finished up 2.89 points at 1,250.41 on volume of 573.08 million shares valued at 1.2 billion ringgit (376 million dollars).
JAKARTA: Indonesian share prices closed 2.2pc lower on concern that high inflation figures may narrow the chances of Bank Indonesia cutting rates this year.
The consumer price index rose 0.95 per cent in March from February and was up 8.17 per cent from a year ago, led by food prices.
MUMBAI: Indian share prices ended marginally lower as banks fell off early gains after a disclosure by Swiss banking giant UBS of a subprime-related write down of 19 billion dollars.—AFP
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