Asian stocks posted the biggest weekly advance in more than a month on signs corporate earnings were improving and as concern eased that European nation’s mounting debt will wreck the global economic recovery.
Tencent Holdings Ltd (騰訊), China’s largest Internet company by market value, jumped 6.2 percent this week as earnings surged. Isuzu Motors Ltd soared 11 percent in Tokyo as it forecast earnings will more than double. Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd climbed 4.5 percent as European policymakers unveiled loan packages for debt-laden nations.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index rose about 1.6 percent to 120.00 this week, the most since the period ended April 4. The index has fallen about 7.1 percent from a 20-month high on April 15, as Europe’s debt crisis and concern China will quell inflation eroded confidence in the global economic recovery.
“The underlying message from the economy and corporate earnings is that we’re on the recovery path,” said Prasad Patkar, who helps manage US$1.7 billion in Sydney at Platypus Asset Management Ltd. “The disruptions in the European Union over the last few weeks could have interfered with that process of healing. But the decisive action taken means the recovery won’t get cut short.”
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index and South Korea’s KOSPI Index both advanced 2.9 percent this week. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 0.9 percent in Tokyo.
The Philippines Stock Exchange Index surged 6 percent, the biggest weekly climb in a year, as Benigno Aquino headed for a landslide presidential election victory, easing concern the result would be contested.
“The upward momentum for corporate earnings will continue and that’s where investors will focus,” said Kiyoshi Ishigane, a strategist in Tokyo at Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co, which oversees about US$64 billion.
Analysts expect earnings per share at companies in the MSCI Asia-Pacific Index to rise 53 percent in the next 12 months, compared with 26 percent for those in the S&P 500 and 38 percent for those in the STOXX Europe 600 Index, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
On Tuesday, the Shanghai Composite Index entered a so-called bear market after having lost 21 percent from its Nov. 23 high on concern China intensified steps to cool its property market. Chinese consumer prices rose last month at the fastest pace in 18 months, and property prices jumped a record 12.8 percent, China’s statistics bureau said this week.
The TAIEX climbed 1.6 points on Friday to close at 7,772.13. The index rose 2.7 percent this week, the first weekly gain in four.
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩電腦), the maker of the Eee PC low-cost notebook, declined 5.1 percent to NT$50.50, the lowest since Aug. 6. Shipments of computers to Europe may be cut because a falling euro reduces the NT dollar value of its sales, chief executive officer Jerry Shen (沈振來) said on Thursday.
Chimei Innolux Corp (奇美電子), Taiwan’s biggest maker of LCDs, fell 0.6 percent to NT$39.60, the lowest since May 7. The company’s board approved a plan to buy back and cancel 732 million preferred shares.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique