Asian stocks close mostly higher
HONG KONG, March 11: Asian stocks closed mostly up after a late rally on Tuesday as bargain hunters emerged despite earlier US share price falls sparked by growing worries over a global credit crunch.
Most markets around the region reversed early losses to turn higher in late trade, after suffering steep falls on Monday.
Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong and Taiwan all closed up around 1.0 per cent, while Singapore rose just under 0.9 per cent.
In Japan, a pause in the yen’s rise against the dollar supported sentiment, since a stronger yen hits exporters.
Elsewhere, Shanghai shrugged off bad Chinese inflation data to end the day up 0.47 per cent. Official figures Tuesday said prices spiked 8.7 per cent in February, a rate equivalent to a near 12-year high.
TOKYO: Japanese share prices closed up 1.0 per cent, rallying from a 30-month low as bargain hunters emerged despite ongoing problems in global credit markets, dealers said.
They said the market rebounded for the first session in three as the yen showed signs of pausing in its recent ascent against the dollar, calming jitters about the outlook for exporter earnings.
The benchmark Nikkei-225 index rose 126.15 points or 1.01 per cent to 12,658.28, a day after hitting its lowest closing level since September 2005.
The broader Topix index of all first-section shares rebounded 10.76 points or 0.88 per cent to 1,235.15.
Gainers outnumbered decliners 1,006 to 599, with 115 issues unchanged.
Turnover rose to 2.37 billion shares from 2.20 billion shares on Monday.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices closed 1.3 per cent higher, dealers said.
The Hang Seng Index closed up 290.30 points at 22,995.35. Turnover was 88.99 billion Hong Kong dollars (11.4 billion US).
Today’s rebound was led by Tokyo and some other regional markets, said Conita Hung, the head of research with Delta Asia Securities.
SYDNEY: Australian shares closed down 0.9 per cent, dealers said.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 closed down 46.2 points at 5,134.2, while the broader All Ordinaries was off 64.6 points or 1.2 per cent at 5,211.1.
Turnover was 1.8 billion shares worth around 7.6 billion Australian dollars (7.07 billion US).
SINGAPORE: Singapore share prices closed 0.86 per cent higher, dealers said.
The main Straits Times index rose 24.26 points to 2,860.85 on volume of 1.50 billion shares worth 1.86 billion Singapore dollars (1.35 billion US).
DBS Group was up 24 cents to 16.82 dollar. CapitaLand rose 18 cents at 5.89 dollars. Singapore Telecommunications rose eight cents to 3.81 dollars.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices closed 2.8 per cent higher, dealers said.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite index gained 33.32 points to 1,206.54.
The index fell more than nine per cent on Monday. A shock weekend election result caused the plunge.
JAKARTA: Indonesian shares closed 0.2 per cent lower, dealers said.
The Jakarta Composite index closed down 4.33 points at 2,523.53.
But conglomerate Astra International rose 300 to 24,800.
WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices fell 0.77 per cent, dealers said.
The benchmark NZX-50 gross index fell 27.29 points to close at 3,520.46.
Telecom ended unchanged at $3.96, Fletcher Building was down 10 cents at 9.00 and Contact Energy was flat at 8.21.—AFP