December 23, 2006	Saturday	Zilhaj 01, 1427

HONG KONG, Dec 22: Asian stocks closed mainly higher on Friday in lacklustre trading as investors squared-off their positions ahead of the Christmas holidays. Singapore provided the highlight of the day with a 0.74 gain which delivered the benchmark back into record territory while Tokyo was up 0.34 per cent after a late rally in market leaders.

Modest gains were also notched-up in Hong Kong, Taipei, Sydney, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok where anxiety appears to have abated after the government's attempt to introduce currency controls earlier in the week.

Slight losses were registered in Jakarta, Manila and Wellington while Shanghai and Seoul were flat.

TOKYO: Share prices rose 0.34 per cent, reaching a new seven-month high, in a late-day rally as interest in blue chips and upbeat corporate news offset end of the year profit-taking.

The Nikkei-225 gained 57.13 points to close at 17,104.96, its highest close since May 9. But the broader TOPIX index of all first-section companies eked out gains of only 0.80 points to end at 1,672.10.

Volume fell to 1.71 billion shares from 2.07 billion Thursday.

HONG KONG: Share prices closed 0.51 per cent higher as China Mobile and select blue chips attracted interest ahead of the expiry of December futures contracts next week.

They said Chinese insurers picked up after reports China issued draft rules allowing the firms to invest in a wider range of overseas stocks and fixed-income products.

The Hang Seng Index closed up 97.68 points at 19,320.52. Turnover was 40.85 billion Hong Kong dollars (5.2 billion US).

The market got a lift from some futures-related activity with investors picking up select blue chips like China Mobile and Hutchison ahead of the expiry (of December contarcts), said Kenny Tang, associate director at Tung Tai Securities.

SYDNEY: Share prices closed 0.36 per cent higher as gains in banking stocks offset a slump in resources.

Dealers said the Australian market had taken a slightly defensive position, with financial stocks up and resources shares down on the back of lower prices on the London Metal Exchange and an overnight retreat in the oil price.

The S and P/ASX 200 climbed 20.2 points to 5,603.7. A total of 1.30 billion shares worth 7.08 billion dollars (5.56 billion US) were traded.

Smith said BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were likely to recover after Brazil's CVRD won a 9.5 per cent rise in iron ore prices won from China's Baosteel. The Australian miners are expected to win price rises of the same magnitude.

SINGAPORE: Share prices powered to a new record high, boosted by gains in banking and property stocks.

The Straits Times Index rose 21.55 points to 2,942.39. Volume totalled 1.05 billion shares worth 893 million Singapore dollars (580 million US).

Volumes are quite thin, we saw some light interest today but nothing too strong, a dealer from a European brokerage said.

Banks and property stocks garnered the most interest as traders looked for some last minute opportunities with the year-end holidays looming, dealers said.

DBS Group, the largest lender in Southeast Asia, gained 0.20 to 22.20, United Overseas Bank was 0.20 higher at 19.10 and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp added 0.10 to 7.70.

KUALA LUMPUR: Sare prices closed 0.28 per cent higher as blue chips attracted interest in late trade.

The composite index gained 3.04 points to 1,079.72 on turnover of 733.34 million shares worth 1.01 billion ringgit (288.5 million dollars).

Dealers said the late buying was done by local funds which wanted to prop up the market ahead of the long holiday weekend.

The Kuala Lumpur stock exchange will be closed on Monday for Christmas and reopen on Tuesday.

“The move to prop up the market (in) the last hours of trading is not unusual in the Malaysian stockmarket context. It has been done numerous times,”a local brokerage dealer said.

Maybe the (reason for the) last minute push could be that local funds know of some positive news flow that is coming out next week,he added.

Dealers said trading is expected to remain rangebound next week towards year-end on a lack of buying momentum coupled with profit taking.

Maybank was down 0.10 ringgit to 11.50.

Dealers said window-dressing activities by fund managers intended to show their clients better portfolios next year helped limit the market's losses.PLDT declined 55 pesos to 2,325.

WELLINGTON: Share prices closed 0.24 per cent lower, coming off record highs despite a surge of interest in The Warehouse on a shortened last trading day before Christmas.The NZX-50 index eased 9.48 points to 4,019.20 on turnover worth 78.42 million New Zealand dollars (54.23 million US.

The Warehouse rose 26 cents to 7.18 dollars after supermarket co-operative Foodstuffs said it was applying for Commerce Commission clearance to take over the company.

Foodstuffs, which has teamed up with private equity player Pacific Equity Partners according to local media reports, said it has not yet made a decision to formally bid.

It's difficult to know what is going to happen,” said Grant Williamson, partner at Hamilton Hindin Greene.

There is a real premium being built into the share price because of the corporate activity that is likely to follow.

MUMBAI: Share prices closed higher led by cement companies as investors expect strong demand for building materials despite the prospect of higher lending rates for home loans.

The 30-share Mumbai stock exchange Sensex index ended up 86.88 points or 0.65 per cent to 13,471.74.

India's largest cement company, ACC, gained 19.30 rupees to 1,048.90.

The government is intent on speeding up road construction and we see continued demand from housing projects and greenfield office space, a broker with HSBC Securities and Capital Markets India said.—AFP