Asian stocks rose this week after the US Federal Reserve cut its benchmark lending rate by half a percentage point to bolster growth in the world's largest economy.
Nintendo Co, the No. 1 maker of portable game players, advanced for the first time in three weeks. BHP Billiton Ltd led commodities shares higher after oil jumped to a record. Posco, South Korea's biggest steelmaker, surged to a high after US steel inventories fell.
"There's a good chance the US will avoid a recession and that's behind this relief rally," said Leslie Phang, who helps oversee US$1 billion at Commonwealth Private Bank in Singapore. "Investors will be more confident taking on more risk."
The Morgan Stanley Capital International Asia-Pacific Index added 2.3 percent to 155.81, as nine out of the 10 industry groups advanced.
Japan's NIKKEI 225 Stock Average advanced 1.2 percent this week. All markets in the region climbed, except for Sri Lanka. Benchmarks set records in Hong Kong, India and China.
TAIPEI
Taiwanese share prices closed up 1.36 percent on Friday as gains in old-economy stocks offset concerns over Wall Street's lackluster showing, the weak US dollar and strong oil prices.
The weighted index closed up 122.25 points from Thursday at 9,105.28, the highest closing level since the 9,182.60 posted on Aug. 9. Turnover was NT$137.74 billion (US$4.19 billion).
The cement sector was up 6.74 percent, paper jumped 4.8 percent, textiles rose 3.62 percent, petrochemicals gained 2.65 percent, steel added 2.23 percent and electronics rose 1.54 percent. But the financial sector bucked the upward trend, losing 1.39 percent.
"Old-economy stocks outperformed on the back of a buying spree sparked by the upswing in [the price of] products such as cement and others," Mega International Investment Services (
TOKYO
Japanese share prices lost ground, following Wall Street lower as worries about the outlook for the US economy and record high oil prices prompted investors to take profits.
The NIKKEI-225 index of leading shares closed down 101.18 points or 0.62 percent at 16,312.61. The broader TOPIX index of all first-section shares dropped 14.77 points or 0.94 percent to 1,552.07.
HONG KONG
Hong Kong share prices closed at another record high, up 0.56 percent in volatile trade amid strong gains in commodities and airline issues.
The Hang Seng Index closed up 142.65 points at 25,843.78. Some dealers said investors appeared to be ignoring fundamentals and chasing new highs, and warned of a correction ahead.
Shares in Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific Airways (國泰航空) were suspended from trading, ending up HK$2.2, or 10.7 percent, at HK$22.70 before the midday break. In a statement to the stock exchange, the company said trading had been suspended pending release of announcement about "a proposed transaction which constitutes price sensitive information."
SHANGHAI
Chinese shares closed 0.28 percent lower on worries that a flood of pending new share issues would slow down the growth of the market and drive shares down.
The Shanghai Composite Index, covering both A and B shares, closed down 15.39 points or 0.28 percent at 5,454.67.
The Shanghai A-share Index fell 16.17 points or 0.28 percent to 5,725.37 and the Shenzhen A-share Index was down 6.82 points or 0.43 percent at 1,574.08.
SEOUL
South Korean share prices closed up 0.5 percent as the bourse got what dealers called a last-minute boost from hopes for positive earnings reports.
The benchmark KOSPI index closed up 10.29 points at 1,919.26, off a high of 1,921.23.
SYDNEY
Australian share prices closed down 0.6 percent, with the banking sector hardest hit as fears about the health of the US economy refused to go away.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 shed 35.8 points to close at 6,357.9 while the broader All Ordinaries lost 29.7 points to end at 6,371.2.
SINGAPORE
Singapore share prices closed down 0.29 percent amid continued caution about the outlook for the US economy given record-high oil prices and the weaker dollar.
The Straits Times Index (STI) fell 10.24 points to 3,542.22 on volume of 1.77 billion shares.
KUALA LUMPUR
Malaysian share prices closed down 0.2 percent in a mixed market as losses due to profit-taking on blue chips were limited by gains in plantation, oil and gas stocks.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index was down 2.73 points at 1,305.94.
BANGKOK
Thai share prices closed 1.97 percent higher as investors chased gains in energy-linked stocks in line with surging oil prices.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) composite index jumped 16.08 points to 831.51 and the bluechip SET-50 index gained 14.35 points to 604.70.
MANILA
Philippine share prices closed 0.5 percent lower as investors took profits amid surging oil prices and the concerns about the state of the US economy.
The Philippine Stock Exchange composite index fell 18.65 points to 3,423.73 after moving between 3,402.98 and 3,442.38. The broader all-share index shed 12.86 points at 2,143.53.
MUMBAI
Indian share prices rose 1.32 percent to a third straight record close on sustained overseas fund buying in benchmark stocks.
Dealers said sentiment improved as India's inflation fell to a near five year low of 3.32 percent for the week ended Sept. 8.
The Mumbai stock exchange SENSEX index rose 216.28 points to 16,564.23, from a previous record close of 16,347.95.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
MAJOR BENEFICIARY: The company benefits from TSMC’s advanced packaging scarcity, given robust demand for Nvidia AI chips, analysts said ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip packaging and testing service provider, yesterday said it is raising its equipment capital expenditure budget by 10 percent this year to expand leading-edge and advanced packing and testing capacity amid strong artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing chip demand. This is on top of the 40 to 50 percent annual increase in its capital spending budget to more than the US$1.7 billion to announced in February. About half of the equipment capital expenditure would be spent on leading-edge and advanced packaging and testing technology, the company said. ASE is considered by analysts