Asian stocks closed higher on Friday following mild gains on Wall Street, but analysts said trade was cautious with investors maintaining a watchful eye on US jobs data for next week's lead.
Lower oil prices aided the rise as Asian investors focused on the US, where they expect to see a posting of 187,000 new US jobs for last month, which held the promise of fuelling further regional share market gains.
Gains in the Asia-Pacific region were virtually across the board with local factors adding to the upward momentum.
Malaysia perked up over bank reassurances on lending, the Philippines struck a two-month high on brighter economic prospects and Australia was helped by BHP Billiton nearing completion of its bid for WMC Resources.
Only China bucked the trend to close lower with dealers saying that institutions had joined individual investors and lost confidence in the market amid the ongoing overhang of government-held non-tradable shares.
Taiwanese share prices are expected to rise in the week ahead amid growing investor confidence and ample liquidity, dealers said.
Electronic stocks, which have led the market in the past week, are expected to continue their upward trend due to continuing investor interests.
"The share prices reached 6,100 points and there is a good chance of going up to 6,200 points next week if there is no significance decline in Wall Street," said Daniel Hsin (辛日祺), senior vice president at Capital Securities Corp (群益證券).
Share prices closed 1.13 percent higher in active trade on Friday as investors took their lead from the continued gains on Wall Street overnight. The TAIEX closed up 68.47 points to 6,107.95 on turnover of NT$102.53 billion (US$3.27 billion).
For the week to June 3, the TAIEX gained 116.40 points or 1.94 percent to 6,107.95, following a 0.62 percent gain the previous week. Average daily turnover stood at NT$81.08 billion (US$2.55 billion), up from NT$55.92 billion a week earlier.
Tokyo share prices closed mixed as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of May jobs data in the US due out later in the day.
"Japanese investors are becoming increasingly worried about the possibility of a downturn on Wall Street in the wake of a weak US jobs report," Shinko Securities market analyst Yutaka Miura said.
The NIKKEI-225 index gained 20.00 points or 0.18 percent to 11,300.05.
Shares closed 0.51 percent higher in Seoul on lower oil prices and strong service sector output figures, with the rise checked by concerns over the economy.
Dealers said the rise may have been capped ahead of a national holiday tomorrow.
The KOSPI index closed up 5.21 points at 976.09.
Hong Kong share prices closed flat in cautious trade ahead of the release of US jobs data for May.
The Hang Seng Index closed up 3.87 points or 0.03 percent at 13,818.45. Property stocks closed mixed, with the sectoral sub-index up 2.15 points or 0.01 percent at 16,794.82.
Share prices closed 0.24 percent lower in Shanghai, extending losses with petrochemical and textile companies weighed down by profit concerns
The Shanghai A-share Index fell 2.58 points to 1,063.96, while the Shenzhen A-share Index fell 1.39 points o 258.29.
The Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B-shares, closed at a fresh eight-year low, down 2.43 points or 0.24 percent at 1,013.64, hitting the lowest level of 1,000.52.
Australian shares closed on a positive note following gains in a resource sector buoyed by BHP Billiton taking control of base metals and uranium miner WMC Resources.
The SP/ASX 200 ended up 13.3 points, or 0.32 percent, at 4,194.0 and the broader All Ordinaries gained 12.8 points to 4,149.2.
Indonesian share prices closed 0.10 percent higher led by market heavyweights Astra International and Indosat. The Jakarta Stock Exchange composite index closed up 1.037 points at 1,092.502.
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure