April 1, 2006	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 2, 1427

HONG KONG, March 31: Asian stocks shrugged off a mixed performance by Wall Street on Friday, ending the week with further gains and benchmarks at historical peaks or multi-year highs.

Tokyo made slight gains and again closed at its highest level since mid-2000 and its performance was mirrored elsewhere in the region. Sydney and Wellington closed at record highs. Singapore finished at a six year high, Manila and Shanghai also gained.

Jakarta was closed for a public holiday.

TOKYO: Share prices eked out small gains in late trade to close at their highest level for over five years after data showed further signs of a recovery in the economy.

Dealers said the market managed to recover from an early bout of profit-taking to extend its winning streak to six trading days, with sentiment buoyed by a drop in unemployment to a seven-year low and a further easing of deflation.

The Nikkei-225 index rose 14.32 points or 0.08 per cent to 17,059.66, the highest closing level since August 2000. Volume dropped to 1.66 billion shares from 2.22 billion shares Thursday.

HONG KONG: Share prices closed 0.48 per cent lower, giving up early gains as profit-taking in China Mobile intensified in late trade.

SYDNEY: Share prices bucked losses on Wall Street to close with another record flourish as rising metal and energy prices provided support for the push into uncharted territory.

The SP/ASX 200 index rose 14.7 points or 0.29 per cent to 5,129.7, hitting its third record finish in a row. A total of 1.78 billion shares worth 8.45 billion dollars (6.1 billion US) changed hands.

SINGAPORE: Share prices closed 0.49 per cent higher led by strong interest in property stocks.

The Straits Times Index rose 12.36 points to 2,533.40 on volume of 1.51 billion shares worth 1.5 billion Singapore dollars (926 million US).

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed little changed ahead of the release of the government’s 2006-2010 five year development plan.

The composite index slipped 0.34 points to 926.63 and volume was 1.05 billion shares worth 1.13 billion ringgit (305 million dollars).

WELLINGTON: Share prices rose 0.20 per cent for another record finish as window-dressing by institutions at the end of the quarter turned around a weak start.

The NZSX-50 gross index added 7.36 points to 3,702.48 on turnover of 152.4 million New Zealand dollars (93.2 million US).

MUMBAI: Share prices fell 0.24 per cent breaking a consecutive five-day rise, with retail investors and funds trading cautiously and not keen to build positions ahead of the weekend.

The 30-share Sensex index fell 27.08 points to 11,279.96.—AFP