HONG KONG, Sept 29: Asian stocks closed flat but tending higher on Friday with Wall Street pushing towards an all-time high helping to underpin positive sentiment, dealers said.
However, they added, trade was quiet across much of the region ahead of extended holidays and this contributed to Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta all closing virtually flat.
Elsewhere gains were solid with Tokyo up 0.64 per cent on the latest batch of positive economic data, Sydney rose 0.79 per cent on improved commodity prices, while Wellington followed the offshore lead and rose 0.42 per cent.
TOKYO: Share prices ended the week at a three-week high, buoyed by fresh gains on Wall Street where the Dow Jones index flirted with an all-time best overnight.
The Nikkei-225 index rose 102.73 points to 16,127.58, the highest finish since September 6. Volume was 1.35 billion shares, down from 1.40 billion shares Thursday.
Dealers cheered the performance of Wall Street where the Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly traded above its January 2000 record high close of 11,722.98 points before closing up 29.21 points or 0.25 percent at 11,718.45.
HONG KONG: Share prices closed flat after end-quarter window-dressing boosted select blue chips, including China Mobile, and helped the market recoup morning losses.
Mainland firm China BlueChemical was in focus as it made a strong debut following a huge response to its initial public offering (IPO).
The Hang Seng Index closed up 12.48 points at 17,543.05. Turnover was 34.31 billion Hong Kong dollars (4.4 billion US).
SYDNEY: Share prices closed 0.79 per cent higher Friday as gains in US stocks overnight again supported Australian investor sentiment, dealers said.
The benchmark SP/ASX 200 rose 40.2 points to 5,154.1. Turnover was 1.34bn shares worth 6.31 billion dollars (4.7bn US).
Property and construction group Lend Lease Corp gained 0.08 dollars to finish at 16.02 following the announcement its US unit was selected by the US Army as a partner for the first stage of privatising army lodgings worth 426 million dollars US.
SINGAPORE: Share prices closed flat after recovering from morning losses caused by profit-taking.
The Straits Times index was up 0.89 points at 2,568.9 on volume of 1.09bn shares worth $769 million.
The index is at four-month highs but remains below all-time highs above the 2,600 level reached in early May.
Today we saw some profit-taking before the weekend holidays after recent gains, but some window-dressing was seen to partially offset this, a dealer at a local brokerage said.
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed 0.14 per cent lower on profit-taking in selected blue chips as local funds consolidated their positions due to expensive market valuations.
The composite index fell 1.33 points to 967.55 on turnover of 415.37 million shares worth 904.22 million ringgit (258.3 million dollars).
JAKARTA: Share prices close 0.05 per cent higher led by gains in property and infrastructure-related stocks.
The composite index closed up 0.815 points at 1,534.615 on volume of 3.024bn shares valued at 1.52 trillion rupiah ($165m).
Mega Capital analyst Teuku Hendry Andrean said the market was still in consolidation mode after recent strong gains.
WELLINGTON: Share prices closed 0.42 per cent higher in the wake of stronger foreign markets and due to portfolio adjustments by institutional investors at the end of the quarter.
The NZX-50 gross index rose 15.11 points to 3,589.34 on turnover worth $62.9 million.
The New Zealand market appeared to take heart from Wall Street after the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed just short of an all time high.—AFP
