Asian stocks had their biggest weekly gain this year after US retail-sales rose and the IMF increased its forecast for global economic growth.
Sony Corp, an electronics maker that gets more than a fifth of its sales in the US, jumped 5.8 percent this week in Tokyo. Jiangxi Copper Co (江西銅業), China’s biggest producer of the metal, gained 8.6 percent in Shanghai after copper prices climbed. Santos Ltd surged 15 percent in Sydney after newspapers said Royal Dutch Shell PLC may buy a stake in Australia’s third-largest oil and gas producer.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index rose 4 percent this week. It has fallen 3.6 percent this year on concern Europe’s debt crisis and China’s measures to curb inflation will slow global growth.
“I doubt we’ll have another global recession,” said Masayuki Kubota, a fund manager at Tokyo-based Daiwa SB Investments Ltd, which oversees about US$51 billion in assets. “People are very sensitive to economic data from the US If something good comes out, market sentiment easily rebounds. I’m buying sectors which were sold on excessive pessimism.”
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 4.1 percent this week, as a weaker yen buoyed the profit outlook for exporters.
Taiwan’s TAIEX index jumped 4.3 percent, the most among major benchmark indexes in the Asia-Pacific region. The TAIEX closed up 0.50 percent on Friday on follow-through buying after an overnight rally on Wall Street, dealers said.
The weighted index rose 38.40 points to 7,647.25, after moving between 7,599.84 and 7,652.55, on turnover of NT$102.08 billion (US$3.18 billion).
HTC Corp (宏達電), the maker of Google Inc’s Nexus One mobile phone, soared 19 percent in Taipei after reporting higher profit and getting rating upgrades. HTC jumped 19 percent to NT$526 in Taipei after reporting second-quarter profit that beat estimates as demand for Google’s Android phones drove sales to a record. Citigroup Inc boosted the stock to “buy” from “sell.”
Allan Lin, an analyst with Concord Securities (康和證券), said that despite Wall Street’s three-digit overnight rise, the local bourse moved in a narrow range with small-and medium-cap stocks turning active.
Other markets on Friday:
Manila closed 0.10 percent lower, pulled down by last-minute profit-taking. The composite index fell 3.60 points from Thursday to 3,394.56 points.
Wellington closed 0.71 percent higher, although trading was light. The benchmark NZX-50 index gained 21.32 points from Thursday to 3,005.25.
Mumbai closed up 1.03 percent as European markets firmed on positive US economic data. The benchmark 30-share SENSEX index closed up 181.81 points from Thursday at 17,833.54.
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
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
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
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