February 12, 2002	Tuesday	Ziqa’ad 28, 1422

HONG KONG, Feb 11: Most of the Asian stock markets that were open for trade on Monday made modest gains in quiet trading ahead of the Chinese New Year.

Dealers said trading was cautious with major bourse Tokyo closed for a public holiday and others including Kuala Lumpur, Taipei and Shanghai shut for the beginning of the lunar Year of the Horse holidays.

Hong Kong share prices rose 3.0 per cent in a shortened day’s trade on follow-up buying on the back of stronger US markets, they said.

The key Hang Seng index gained 313.75 points to close at 10,832.74, however dealers noted sentiment remained largely cautious and volumes thin ahead of the holiday.

SYDNEY: Australian shares rose 0.7 per cent to nudge the all-time record after a buoyant Wall Street inspired strong gains in market heavyweights News Corp and BHP Billiton.

SINGAPORE: Singapore shares closed 0.2 per cent higher in shortened trading ahead of the Lunar New Year holidays.

The Straits Times Index edged up 4.26 points to finish at 1,740.68 on light volumes. The broader All Singapore Equities index gained 1.210 points to 456.23.

JAKARTA: Indonesian shares closed 0.4 per cent higher in lacklustre trade as late buying of blue chips helped push the key index into positive territory in the last few minutes.

WELLINGTON: Wall Street’s strong rebound was insufficient to snap New Zealand’s sharemarket here out of its fourth successive session in the negative Monday, dealers said. The NZSE-40 index was down 0.3pc or 6.50 points to 2088.31.—AFP