April 18, 2006	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 19, 1427

HONG KONG, April 17: Asian stocks closed mostly higher on Monday in reduced volumes with another surge in oil prices limiting gains, after it touched 70 dollars a barrel.

Dealers said holidays in many markets had left those still trading to focus on local issues with oil providing a rare lead on tight US gasoline stocks and continued fears Washington could attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Slight gains were enough for Jakarta to post another record higher, push Manila to its best levels in six years and help Taipei to crack an important psychological barrier.

Gains were also registered Mumbai, Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Shanghai. However, Tokyo and Seoul bucked the broader trend and closed a little lower.

TOKYO: Share prices skidded lower after two straight days of gains, with investors reluctant to buy ahead of the corporate results season.

Dealers said activity was fairly subdued in the absence of leads from major overseas stockmarkets which were closed on Friday for the Easter holiday.

The Nikkei-225 index fell 233.46 points or 1.35 per cent to 17,000.36. Volume was 1.43 billion shares.

SINGAPORE: Share prices closed 0.23 per cent higher as a slow start to the corporate earnings reporting season and soaring oil prices clipped gains.

The Straits Times Index rose 5.96 points to 2,550.34. Volume was 1.89 billion shares valued at 1.13 billion Singapore dollars (706,000 US).

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed 0.15 per cent higher due to late buying into index linked stocks.

The composite index ended up 1.42 points at 939.74 and volume was 779.09 million shares worth 831.44 million ringgit (225 million dollars).

JAKARTA: Share prices closed 0.34 per cent higher on sustained foreign buying in blue chips, pushing the benchmark index to a record high for a third straight trading day.

The composite index was up 4.663 points at 1,386.785. Volume was 2.10 billion shares valued at 1.37 trillion rupiah (152.39 million dollars.)

MUMBAI: Share prices closed higher, bouncing back from steep falls last week on strong earnings guidance by the country’s second largest software exporter.—AFP