Asian stocks rallied sharply higher on Friday after Wall Street notched up its strongest daily performance in almost four years for another record finish.
Mergers and upbeat retail figures were behind the 2 percent surge in New York with Asia tracking the performance. This resulted in Hong Kong, Mumbai, Seoul, Singapore and Jakarta all striking best-ever closes.
Tokyo was typical for the day, advancing 1.42 percent with investors also buoyed by weakness in the yen, which makes exports cheaper.
PHOTO: AFP
Taipei was up 1.25 percent, Kuala Lumpur climbed 1.32 percent and Bangkok was up 1.81 percent.
Sydney was up 0.41 percent with sentiment supported by Rio Tinto's US$38.1 billion bid for Alcan. Manila rose 0.78 percent.
TAIPEI
Taiwanese share prices are expected to rise again next week with foreign funds continuing to flow into the bourse on hopes the government will introduce market-friendly policies ahead of elections due early next year, dealers said on Friday.
Market sentiment has improved dramatically after the benchmark repeated seven-year highs while regional markets and Wall Street consistently broke record and multi-year highs, they said.
For the week to Friday, the weighted TAIEX index closed up 282.99 points or 3.08 percent at 9,471.30 after a 3.43 percent increase a week earlier. It is expected to move between 9,400 points and 9,700 next week.
Average daily turnover stood at NT$229.10 billion (US$6.98 billion), compared with NT$183.82 billion the previous week.
Dealers said government support for the markets could result in investors targeting property, financial and biotech stocks, which have been put on the government's list for development.
TOKYO
Japanese share prices closed 1.42 percent higher as investors cheered Thursday's rise on Wall Street, where stocks posted the sharpest percentage gain in almost four years.
Dealers said the weakness of the yen was another positive factor, keeping investors optimistic about prospects for exporter earnings.
The NIKKEI-225 index rose 254.81 points to 18,238.95.
HONG KONG
Share prices closed 1.27 percent higher, with the benchmark hitting another milestone as it broke 23,000 points for the first time, helped by continued gains in heavyweight China Mobile.
The Hang Seng Index closed up 290.27 points at 23,099.29.
"The market broke the psychological barrier of 23,000, well in line with expectation, after Wall Street posted strong gains overnight," said Jackson Wong, investment manager at Tanrich Securities.
SEOUL
Share prices rose 2.78 percent to a fresh record high in bullish trading on expectations that the corporate earnings momentum will continue in the second half.
Dealers said Wall Street's overnight rally sparked an early lift, with sentiment boosted further by an optimistic outlook from Samsung Electronics.
The KOSPI index closed up 53.18 points at 1,962.93.
SYDNEY
Share prices rose 0.41 percent on Friday as Rio Tinto's US$38.1 billion bid for Alcan sparked a frenzy of takeover speculation about possible deals in the key resources sector.
The S&P/ASX 200 ended up 26.0 points at 6,389.4.
SHANGHAI
Share prices closed flat amid fresh fears of possible government measures to cool the country's booming economy.
Despite gains by insurance companies, the market was expected to consolidate amid fresh concerns about imminent curbs on liquidity after robust growth in foreign reserves in the first half 2007, dealers said.
The Shanghai Composite Index closed 1.60 points lower to 3,914.40.
Heavyweight insurance companies outperformed the market amid optimism over stronger-than-expected first-half interim results.
SINGAPORE
Share prices closed sharply higher to a fresh record peak as they tracked gains in other regional markets following Wall Street's overnight rally. The Straits Times Index soared 30.05 points to 3,654.61.
KUALA LUMPUR
Share prices closed 1.37 percent higher led by sharp gains in power company Tenaga Nasional and late buying in selected blue chips.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index closed up 18.70 points to 1,384.72.
MANILA
Share prices closed 0.78 percent higher a day after the central bank cut its key interest rates.
The composite index added 29.27 points to 3,786.02.
WELLINGTON
Share prices closed 0.12 percent higher, lifted by top stock Telecom and optimism on Wall Street.
The NZX-50 index was 5.12 points up at 4,243.66.
MUMBAI
Share prices closed up 1.2 percent at a fresh record high amid strong global trends and sustained fund buying.
Dealers said the markets could witness a correction even though economic growth is set to keep growing at more than 8 percent.
The 30-share SENSEX index rose 180.68 points to 15,272.72.
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