Asian stocks advanced this week for the first time in three weeks, led by technology companies and commodity producers on optimism the global economic recovery is strengthening.
Inotera Memories Inc (華亞科技) surged 23 percent in Taipei as prices for dynamic-random-access-memory chips climbed to a one-month high. Canon Inc, the world’s biggest camera maker, gained 5.6 percent in Tokyo after keeping its dividend unchanged and winning approval for a takeover. BHP Billiton Ltd, the world’s largest mining company and Australia’s top oil producer, gained 4.6 percent in Sydney as prices for crude and metals increased after reports showed US consumer spending and incomes climbed.
“The recent data indicate the global economy is recovering faster than originally expected,” said Prasad Patkar, who helps manage about US$1.6 billion at Platypus Asset Management in Sydney. “It’s too early to say whether the recovery is self-sustaining, but we should know toward the end of first quarter 2010.”
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index rose 1.7 percent to 119.56 this holiday-shortened week. Technology and materials stocks had the steepest gains among the index’s 10 industry groups.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 3.5 percent this week, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 1.6 percent and the Shanghai Composite Index in China gained 0.9 percent. Japan’s markets were closed on Wednesday for a holiday, and most other bourses were shut on Friday for Christmas.
The MSCI gauge has climbed 34 percent this year, set for its biggest annual gain since 2003, on signs government spending and lower interest rates are bolstering economies.
Stocks in the benchmark trade at 23 times estimated earnings, compared with 18 times for the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index in the US and 16 times for the Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index in Europe.
Inotera Memories surged 23 percent to NT$25.30 in Taipei, the highest since May last year. Elpida Memory Inc, Japan’s biggest maker of memory chips, climbed 12 percent. Tokyo Electron Ltd, the world’s second-biggest maker of equipment to manufacture semiconductors, advanced 9.3 percent to ¥5,880.
Taiwanese share prices are expected to keep their upward momentum amid high liquidity next week, the last in a boom year for the nation’s share market, dealers said on Friday.
Institutional investors are likely to short-cover electronic firms after the sector’s recent consolidation, triggered by a pick-up in the global demand for high-tech products, they said.
For the week to Friday, the weighted index rose 218.96 points or 2.82 percent to 7,972.59 after a 0.53 percent fall a week earlier.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
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