Asian stocks close mostly up on US rate cut hopes
HONG KONG, Nov 29: Asian stocks closed mostly up on Thursday after an overnight Wall Street rally triggered by hopes that the US will cut interest rates.
Shanghai surged 4.16 per cent, Hong Kong rose 4.1 percent, Singapore jumped 3.22 per cent, Tokyo rallied 2.4 percent and Seoul closed up 2.3 per cent.
The rally followed a strong rise on Wall Street on Wednesday, when the Dow Jones leapt 2.61 percent.
Comments by US Federal Reserve vice chairman Donald Kohn boosted investor sentiment as they were taken to imply that the central bank could cut US borrowing costs again in December.
Kohn said Fed must be “nimble” in policy and should not hold the economy hostage to teach a lesson to financial market speculators.
TOKYO: Japanese share prices soared 2.4 per cent to the highest level for about three weeks, lifted by a strong rally on Wall Street triggered by hopes of a US interest rate cut next month, dealers said.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices soared, closing up 4.1 per cent on hopes of lower US interest rates, dealers said.
The Hang Seng index closed up 1,111.30 points at 28,482.54, off an intra-day high of 28,667.27. Volume was 13.31 billion shares worth 146.59 billion dollars (18.79 billion US dollars dollars).
SYDNEY: Australian share prices closed up 1.2 per cent as growing expectations of an interest rate cut in the US brought investors back to the market after two days of losses, dealers said.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed up 74.4 points at 6,444.5 while the broader All Ordinaries closed up 1.2 per cent or 74.4 points at 6,507.2.
With the US having run up two days straight, over 500 points, I guess we had a bit of a resuscitation today. We see a lot of new life in the market,said Lucinda Chan, a division director at Macquarie Equities.
SINGAPORE: Singapore share prices closed 3.22 per cent higher on hopes the US Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next month, dealers said.
The Straits Times Index shot up 108.5 points to 3,478.22. Volume totalled 1.77 billion shares worth 2.43 billion Singapore dollars (1.69 billion US).
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices closed 0.6 per cent higher, tracking regional gains as Wall Street continued to rally, dealers said.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index rose 7.74 points to 1,374.32.
Volume traded was 969.217 million shares valued at 1.559 billion ringgit ($462.6 million).
JAKARTA: Indonesian share prices closed 1.1 per cent higher as investors opted to lock in profits after Wall Street’s rally overnight sent the key index an all-time high in early trade, dealers said.
Volume was 4.52 billion shares valued at 8.26 trillion rupiah (880.12 million dollars).
WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices fell 0.11 per cent, ignoring regional and US gains amid uncertainty about the domestic economic outlook, dealers said.
The benchmark NZX-50 index fell 4.49 points to close at 4,066.54 on turnover worth 164.9 million dollars (126.9 million US).
MUMBAI: Indian share prices closed up 0.34 per cent, trimming gains after regional markets surged on a powerful Wall Street rally overnight, dealers said.
They said banking, power and property stocks rose as the market snapped two days of losses.
The benchmark 30-share Sensex index closed up 64.39 points or 0.34 per cent at 19,003.26, slipping sharply from the day’s peak of 19,297.01.
The markets opened strong matching the Asian trends, but slipped on unwinding of positions at the expiry of the monthly futures contract, said Naresh Garg, chief investment officer at the Sahara Mutual fund.—AFP