April 20, 2006	Thursday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 21, 1427

HONG KONG, April 19: Asian stocks cheered the prospect of an end to US interest rate hikes on Wednesday with benchmarks passing a series of milestones while brushing aside record high world oil prices.

Global and regional markets had anticipated further rises after the US Fed last month raised its base rate by 25 basis points to 4.75 per cent.

Sydney, Mumbai, Seoul, Singapore and Jakarta, all stretched their run into uncharted territory with record closes. Tokyo, Taiwan and Hongkong were at or near five to six year highs as Shanghai had its best finish in 18 months.

TOKYO: Share prices advanced for a second straight day following a strong rally on Wall Street in response to signs that US interest rates have almost peaked.

The Nikkei-225 index rose 117.26 points or 0.68pc to 17,350.12. Volume rose to 1.69 billion shares from 1.59bn Tuesday.

Winners in the semiconductor sector were led by Elpida Memory, which jumped 190 yen or 4.1 per cent to 4,830 after the world’s fifth-largest chipmaker upgraded its full-year outlook.

HONG KONG: Share prices rose 1.16 per cent to a six-year high after Wall Street’s rally overnight amid an easing in interest rate fears.

The Hang Seng Index closed up 192.91 points at 16,830.44. Turnover was 47.69 billion Hong Hong dollars (6.1 billion US dollars), the highest this year.

SYDNEY: Share prices continued their run into uncharted territory, closing up 0.67 per cent at a fresh record as strong metal prices again drove mining stocks higher.

The S and P/ASX 200 index rose 35.3 points to 5,283.9. Turnover was 1.58 billion shares worth 6.00 billion dollars (4.43 billion US).

SINGAPORE: Share prices closed at an all-time high as investors cheered reports of an end to US rate increases and ignored soaring oil prices.

The Straits Times Index jumped 26.59 points to 2,585.84, beating the previous record high of 2,582.94 set in January 2000.

KUALA LUMPUR: Share price closed 0.57pc higher due to buying in blue chips and buoyed by the overnight rally on Wall Street.

The composite index rose 5.40 points at 945.97 on volume of 895.01 million shares worth 1.067 billion ringgit ($288 million).

JAKARTA: Share prices closed 2.53 per cent higher with the index ending at a record high for the fifth straight day as foreign investors continued to snap up blue chips.

The composite index closed up 35.852 points at 1,453.227 on volume of 3.78bn shares valued at 3.55 trillion rupiah ($397.09m).

MUMBAI: Share prices closed at a record high in volatile trading, with software and oil stocks gaining on domestic fund buying.—AFP