Asian stocks climbed this week, erasing the regional benchmark index’s loss for the year, as steps by European leaders toward easing the region’s sovereign debt crisis, including fresh aid for Greece, boosted the earnings outlook for Asia’s banks and exporters.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 2.5 percent to 139.04 this week, capping the gauge’s fourth advance in five weeks.
Taiwan’s TAIEX closed at 8,765.32 on Friday, gaining 2.2 percent on the week.
“Market sentiment improved a lot as optimism grew over the possibility that the debt crisis in the eurozone might be contained after the Greece bailout deal,” Grand Cathay Securities (大華證券) analyst Mars Hsu (徐振家) said in Taipei on Friday. “When investors here witnessed other regional markets following Wall Street’s overnight gains, they jumped onto the trading floor to buy right after the market opened.”
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average increased 1.6 percent, taking it within 1 percent of erasing its loss for the year. South Korea’s KOSPI climbed 1.2 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index gained 2.9 percent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index advanced 2.6 percent.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index has increased 0.97 percent this year through yesterday.
In other markets on Friday:
Manila ended flat, edging down 1.65 points from Thursday to 4,478.36.
Wellington rose 0.81 percent, or 27.88 points, from Thursday to 3,449.22.
Mumbai rose 1.55 percent, with the benchmark Sensex 30 up 286.11 points from Thursday to 18,722.3.
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