February 21, 2006	Tuesday	Muharram 22, 1427

HONG KONG, Feb 20: Asian stocks closed mostly higher on Monday with modest gains after investors shrugged off a lacklustre performance by Wall Street, dealers said. However, Tokyo bucked the trend and slumped 1.75 per cent amid persistent fears its recovering economy is spelling an end to low interest rates.

Markets elsewhere mostly held their nerve against Tokyo’s fall with Seoul the best performer on the day with a 1.16 percent rise on strong institutional support.

Sydney, Wellington, Jakarta, Taipei and Mumbai were also higher while Kuala Lumpur and Singapore finished even.

Manila was also weaker.

TOKYO: Share prices closed down 1.75 per cent to hit a four-week low on concerns that foreign investors are losing interest in the market after sharp gains.

The Nikkei-225 index lost 275.52 points to 15,437.93. Volume picked up to 2.17 billion shares from 1.95 billion shares on Friday.

Foreign investors have thus far made a lot of money by investing in Japanese stocks which were relatively cheap, said Hideo Mizutani, a chief strategist at Sieg Securities.

Sony plunged 200 yen to 5,300, Panasonic maker Matsushita fell 80 yen to 2,395, Sanyo lost seven yen to 272 and TEAC slumped 21 yen to 147.

HONG KONG: Share prices closed 0.79 per cent higher, led by property stocks following strong apartment sales last week.

Institutional fund inflows into Hong Kong supported buying interest further, they added.

The Hang Seng Index closed up 122.98 points at 15,598.67. Turnover was 27.36 billion Hong Kong (3.51 billion US).

Sun Hung Kai Properties rose 0.50 to 78.80, Cheung Kong up 1.70 at 80.60, Henderson Land up 0.75 at 39.70.

SYDNEY: Share prices closed 0.74 per cent higher as resources stocks gained ground on a rebound in metal prices and positive company earnings reports continued.

The SP/ASX 200 index rose 35.6 points to 4,835.5. Turnover was 1.03 billion shares worth 3.68 billion dollars (2.72 billion US).

SINGAPORE: Share prices closed flat as the market took a breather after a Friday budget speech that lacked surprises and offered no more tax cuts.

The Straits Times Index rose 0.43 points to 2,431.77 on volume of 1.01 billion shares valued at 899.42 million Singapore dollars (552 million US).

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed 0.14 per cent lower due to lack of fresh leads with trade rangebound as retail investors were concerned about the recent sell-down of the lower liners.

The composite index slipped 1.29 points to 925.18 while volume was 872.25 million shares worth 1.03 billion ringgit (278 million dollars).

JAKARTA: Share prices closed 0.32 per cent higher, rising for the fourth straight trading day, as an extended rebound in blue chips offset broad-based selling.

WELLINGTON: Share prices closed 1.1 per cent higher, driven by a positive response to Contact Energy’s proposed merger with its Australian majority owner, Origin Energy.

The NZSX-50 gross index gained 36.7 points to 3,369.96 on turnover worth 122.8 New Zealand dollars (81.47 million US).

MUMBAI: Share prices closed up 0.98 per cent and back above the key 10,000-point level amid the detection in India of the first outbreak of bird flu in poultry.—AFP