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HONG KONG, Aug 1: Asian stocks shrugged off a disappointing performance by Wall Street to close mostly higher on Monday with many markets nearing or breaking record ground. Asian investors were tracking US shares, which eased last Friday on figures showing that US economic growth slowed a touch in the second quarter, but dealers said only Taipei took notice and ended lower Monday.
Elsewhere, local factors dominated trade with India striking an all-time high for a fifth consecutive day despite trading disruptions caused by torrential rains and floods which have left almost 1,000 people dead.
Tokyo neared its year high on rising land prices, Seoul reached near 11-year highs on hopes of a resolution to the North Korean nuclear stand-off and New Zealand struck another record close although in a lacklustre trade.
Singapore reached an intra-day high for the year on the back of its property sector while banks in Hong Kong also did well ahead of the release of results from HSBC, announced after the close of trade.
TOKYO: Share prices closed up 0.40 per cent, nearing this year’s high as investors got a boost from the first rise in Tokyo land prices in 13 years and strong results at companies such as telecom giant NTT DoCoMo.
The Nikkei-225 index gained 47.32 points to 11,946,92 on heavy volume of 1.83bn shares, up from 1.69bn shares Friday.
Kumagai Gumi, a major contractor, rose 23 yen to 339, Sumitomo Osaka Cement added 16 yen to 310 and Taiheiyo Cement was up eight yen to 334.
KDDI, the second largest operator, rose 34,000 yen to 576,000 following reports it is close to sealing a deal to acquire PoweredCom, a fixed-line telephone service company.
HONG KONG: Share prices closed 0.66 per cent higher, led by global banking HSBC ahead of its first-half results announcement.
HSBC announced after the close a pretax profit of 10.64 billion US dollars for the first half, up 5.0 per cent from a year earlier and ahead of analyst forecasts for largely flat results.
SYDNEY: Share prices closed 0.25 per cent lower in lackluster trade as investors marked time ahead of upcoming corporate results.
Dealers said volumes were light due to a public holiday in Sydney and a lack of positive leads from overseas markets.
The SP/ASX 200 index closed down 10.8 points at 4,378.0. Volume was light at 710.47 million shares worth 1.66 billion dollars (1.26 billion US).
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed little changed as investors assessed the impact of rising oil prices on the economy after the government hiked petrol and diesel prices.
The composite index was up 0.83 points at 938.22. Volume was 382.69 million shares, worth 565.33 million ringgit (149 million dollars).
JAKARTA: Share prices closed 0.34 per cent lower on profit-taking, mostly in blue-chip Telkom and oil and gas firm Medco following their recent gains.
Medco closed down 150 rupiah at 3,050 on volume of 39.49 million shares after investors were disappointed by the pricing of its secondary offering at 2,850 rupiah a share on Friday, below its current trading price, dealers said.
WELLINGTON: Share prices rose 0.40 per cent as strong liquidity drove the key index to a fresh record close.
The NZSX-50 gross index rose 13.60 points to 3,372.88 on volume of 80.3 million dollars (54.8 million US).
Telecom shares were up four cents at 6.34 dollars ahead of the company’s annual results due Friday, amid continuing talk of a possible special dividend.
MUMBAI: Share prices closed at a record high as India’s financial capital faced a fresh wave of torrential rains that disrupted traffic and business and kept trading thin.
The 30 share Sensex closed up 34.03 points or 0.45 per cent to close at 7.669.45, beating Friday’s 7,635.42 record close.—AFP
