Asian stocks closed mostly higher on Friday with investors consolidating their positions on local issues after Wall Street failed to deliver a solid overnight lead.
Brighter prospects for the IT sector, corporate upgrades and easing inflation and interest rates helped Seoul, Hong Kong, Jakarta and Mumbai to all close at record highs. Bangkok performed well on the day with a 1.03 percent gain amid military approval for a new constitution.
Taipei rose 0.43 percent and Kuala Lumpur was up 0.33 percent, while Singapore gained 0.29 percent on support for banks.
Shanghai was again the standout with a 4.58 percent surge amid heavy bargain hunting in response to Thursday's 5.25 percent sell-off.
However, elsewhere benchmarks finished lower with profit taking on the back of recent sharp gains contributing to falls, particularly in Manila, which was the worst on the day with a 1.14 percent slump.
TAIPEI
Share prices closed 0.43 percent higher as investors took rotational interest in stocks across the board, finishing the week with a fifth consecutive daily gain.
Dealers said toward the end of trading, however, price movements became more rangebound as some investors took profit ahead of the weekend and after Wall Street finished a lackluster session overnight.
The TAIEX closed up 39.53 points at 9,188.31 on turnover of NT$210.72 billion (US$6.42 billion).
"Some profit-taking made perfect sense. Investors had every reason to lock in at least some of the very significant gains they accumulated in recent weeks," Mega International Investment Services (
Saying that the index had continued to gain ground beyond 9,000 points without much help from any major news and despite Wall Street's lackluster trading last night, Huang said more convincing leads should emerge to support a market where "setting a fresh seven-year high" has nearly become a daily activity in recent trading.
BenQ Corp (
TOKYO
Share prices snapped a six-day winning streak as investors pocketed gains ahead of key US jobs data and next week's domestic machinery orders report.
Dealers said a mixed session overnight on Wall Street as investors returned from the Independence Day holiday also weighed on sentiment.
The NIKKEI-225 index fell 80.54 points to 18,140.94.
"Investors were cautious about the US non-farm payrolls data due out later Friday given higher bond yields there," said Hideo Mizutani, chief strategist at Sieg Securities, referring to an increase in money market rates.
HONG KONG
Share prices closed 1.25 percent higher with the main index sweeping past the 22,500 level to hit a new record.
Dealers said blue chips such as Hutchison Whampoa posted strong gains following target price upgrades by brokerages and the index was also supported by rotational interest in property stocks, which lagged the recent rally.
The Hang Seng Index closed up 278.75 points at 22,531.74.
SEOUL
Share prices hit another record close as investors targeted large-cap technology stocks amid hopes for improved earnings in the sector.
Dealers said that investors shrugged off the tepid overnight performance on Wall Street and concerns that the market's run-up over the past few days may have be overdone.
The KOSPI index ended up 13.22 points at 1,861.01.
RSS