HONG KONG, Oct 13: Asian stocks on Monday posted heavy gains after a week of big losses, with Hong Kong up more than 10pc, as dealers reacted to a pledge by world leaders to help the battered global economy.

Markets suffered their worst falls in more than 20 years last week, with some indexes losing up to a quarter of their value as dealers ignored worldwide interest rate cuts and central banks ploughing billions of dollars into the system.

However, after a weekend of talks between the world’s richest nations leaders agreed to take decisive action to put an end to the global turmoil.

That was followed by eurozone countries on Monday pledging to shore up the banking system with massive injections of cash similar to a plan unveiled last week by Britain.

Australian shares ended the day 5.6 per centhigher -- after an 8.3 per centplummet Friday -- after Canberra announced plans at the weekend to guarantee bank deposits.

Asia’s biggest market Tokyo, which was hammered last week, was closed for a public holiday.

HONG KONG: Shares closed up 10.2 percent, dealers said.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index ended the session up 1,515.29 points at 16,312.16 after trading between 14,754.64 and 16,376.42. Turnover was 72.59 billion Hong Kong dollars (9.31 billion US).

The trigger appeared to be positive news from the British banking sector, where lender Barclays said it would raise capital without government assistance.

SYDNEY: Australian share prices closed up 5.6 percent, dealers said.

Financial and mining shares led the way as the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 gained 220.0 points at 4,180.7 and the broader All Ordinaries rose 202.4 points to 4,141.9.

Turnover on Asia-Pacific’s second largest market was 1.49 billion shares worth 5.36 billion dollars (3.56 billion US), with 679 closing up, 451 down and 270 unchanged.

The Australian market shed more than 106 billion dollars (70.8 billion US) in value Friday, pushing losses for the week to 230 billion dollars.

ANZ surged 13.1 per centto 17.30 dollars, after it was granted a licence from the State Bank of Vietnam to set up a wholly owned bank out of Hanoi.

SINGAPORE: Shares closed 6.57 per centhigher, dealers said.

The blue-chip Straits Times Index finished 128.02 points higher at 2,076.35 on volume of 1.59 billion shares worth 1.62 billion Singapore dollars (1.10 billion US).

CIMB bank said actions by world governments to address a credit crunch drove the rebound but worries of slower global growth will likely remain.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices closed 1.8 per centhigher, dealers said.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index gained 16.75 points to close at 950.76.

Public Bank was 1.7 per centlower at 8.80 ringgit and Ta Ann shed 3.1 per centat 4.34 ringgit.

Tenaga went up 6.2 per centto 6.85 ringgit and Maybank remained unchanged at 5.55 ringgit while the world’s largest palm oil company Sime Darby was 3.1 per centhigher at 6.70 ringgit.

JAKARTA: Indonesian shares closed 0.7 per centhigher, dealers said.

The Jakarta Composite Index rose to 1,461.87 off an intraday low of 1,358.75, the lowest since July 2006.

State-owned Antam shares rose 9.5 per centto 1,150 rupiah, Gresik increased 9.7 per centto 2,030, and state-owned coal miner Bukit Asam jumped 9.5 per centto 5,750.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand shares fell 0.82 percent, dealers said. The benchmark NZX-50 index fell 22.92 points to close at 2,782.39.

Market leader Telecom closed down eight cents at $2.48, Contact Energy fell 15 cents to 7.05 and Fletcher Building eased one cent to 5.85.

MUMBAI: Indian shares surged 7.64pc, dealers said. The benchmark 30-share Sensex index rose 804.38 points to 11,332.23, its second biggest single-day percentage gain.—AFP