July 26, 2006	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 29, 1427

HONG KONG, July 25: Asian markets closed higher on Tuesday, supported by solid gains on Wall Street and as some of the concerns over the Middle East crisis began to ease on expectations some sort of ceasefire will be patched together, dealers said.

They said the advance, however, appeared technical and could be reversed if Wall Street were to stumble again for any one of a series of reasons -- record oil prices, disappointing corporate results or a widening of the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict.

India's decision to hike interest rates, the fourth time since October last year, was as expected but also confirmed a steady global tightening in monetary policy.

TOKYO: Japanese share prices powered ahead on Wall Street's lead, taking the benchmark Nikkei index back above the 15,000 points level for the first time in almost two weeks, dealers said.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange's benchmark Nikkei-225 index gained 210.74 points or 1.42 per cent to 15,005.24, the highest closing level since July 13. The market was off a high of 15,078.36. The broader TOPIX index of all first-section stocks rose 20.60 or 1.36 per cent to 1,534.82.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices closed 0.63 per cent higher as investors picked up blue chips and select China stocks following a strong rally on Wall Street overnight, dealers said.

SYDNEY: Australian share prices closed 1.18 per cent higher, supported by overnight gains on Wall Street and strong corporate results, dealers said.

They said the major banks climbed as a result of the turnaround in investor sentiment but this could be short-lived ahead of Wednesday's release of second quarter consumer inflation data.

SINGAPORE: Singapore share prices closed 1.37 per cent higher on the back of Wall Street's rebound and fresh local interest in blue chips, dealers said. Gainers beat losers 342 to 218, with 651 stocks unchanged.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices closed 0.62 per cent higher as investor sentiment was supported by a strong advance in plantation stocks and positive central bank comments on interest rates, dealers said.

JAKARTA: Indonesian share prices closed 0.35 per cent higher, supported by firmer regional markets after gains on Wall Street overnight, dealers said.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices closed 0.64 per cent higher following strong gains in US markets, dealers said.

MUMBAI: Indian share prices closed 1.96 per cent higher on strong global market trends and as a widely expected interest rate hike did no damage to sentiment, dealers said.—AFP