HONG KONG, Jan 22: Asian stocks rose Thursday as investors reacted positively to a strong rally on Wall Street and sought bargains following two days of heavy losses.

The gains also came despite miserable data out of China that showed the economy had slowed sharply, while Japan released data revealing exports had plunged and the central bank said it expects a two-year-long recession.

Tokyo’s Nikkei finished 1.90 per cent higher, Sydney 1.3 per cent and Hong Kong 0.6 per cent as dealers made the most of a two-day sell-off.

The markets followed a 3.51 per cent jump on Wall Street overnight, which analysts said had been heavily oversold.

Investors in Japan brushed aside the latest economic figures to buy up cheap stocks after the central bank announced measures to fight off a recession, including spending more than 30 billion dollars to ease credit.

Taipei will be closed until February 2 for an extended holiday.

TOKYO: Up 1.90 per cent. The Nikkei-225 index rose 150.10 points to 8,051.74, reversing two straight days of losses. The broader Topix index of all first-section shares gained 8.76 points, or 1.11 per cent, to 795.91.

Nippon Building Fund gained 7.5 per cent at 930,000 yen, while Japan Real Estate Investment firmed 5.4 per cent to 766,000.

Sony declined 2.6 per cent to 1,938. After the close, the electronics giant predicted a much bigger than expected annual operating loss of 260 billion yen (2.9 billion dollars).

HONG KONG: Up 0.6 per cent. The Hang Seng Index closed up 74.36 points at 12,657.99, but was off an intraday high of 12,895.25. Turnover was 35.38 billion Hong Kong dollars (4.54 billion US).

HSBC rose 3.6 per cent to 57.00 dollars, ending eight days of declines during which it lost 26 per cent.

Bank of China added 2.1 per cent to $1.93 and China Construction Bank advanced 1.6 per cent to 3.72.

SYDNEY: Up 1.3 per cent. The S&P/ASX 200 added 44 points to 3,486.8 while the broader All Ordinaries was 37.1 points higher at 3,431.9.

Provisional turnover was 936 million shares worth 3.1 billion Australian dollars (two billion US).

Westpac closed up 3.3 per cent at 15.52 and National Australia Bank firmed 2.8 per cent to 18.11. Commonwealth Bank was flat at 25.60 while ANZ Banking Group slipped 1.3 per cent to 13 dollars.

SINGAPORE: Up 0.25 per cent. The blue-chip Straits Times Index rose 4.25 points to 1,708.77 on volume of 863 million shares worth 972 million Singapore dollars (650 million US).

Bank shares were mixed, with United Overseas Bank up four cents to 11.88 and DBS rising a cent to 8.56.

KUALA LUMPUR: Up 0.6 per cent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index rose 5.61 points to close at 879.02 points on turnover of 371.8 million shares worth 460.40 million ringgit (127.36 million dollars).

Bumiputra Commerce climbed 1.7 per cent to 6.10 ringgit while Gamuda was up 3.2 per cent to 1.94 ringgit.

JAKARTA: Up 0.4 per cent. The Jakarta Composite Index rose 5.89 points to 1,327.32 in thin volume.

Gas Negara gained 6.3 per cent to 2,020 rupiah and heavyweight Telkom rose 1.5 per cent to 6,450 as investors sought bargains. Bank Rakyat fell 2.7 per cent to 4,525 rupiah.

WELLINGTON: Up 1.09 per cent. The NZX-50 index rose 29.37 points to close at 2,734.41 on turnover worth $80.5 million (42.6 million US).

Market leader Telecom gained four cents to $2.51 and accounted for nearly $29 million in turnover.

MUMBAI: Up 0.39 per cent. The benchmark 30-share Sensex index rose 36.47 points to 8,813.84.—AFP