June 15, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 29, 1428

HONG KONG, June 14: Asian stocks closed sharply higher on Thursday after an overnight rally on Wall Street, fuelled by easing fears over rising US interest rates and the release of solid economic data.

Only Shanghai, which fell 1.47 per cent, bucked the trend with Premier Wen Jiabao indicating the government would make further efforts to cool China's fast growing economy and this pulled the benchmark sharply lower.

Unlike recent sell-offs in China, sentiment in other regional markets was not impacted on with investors falling in line with New York and this pushed Hong Kong up 1.40 per cent and Taipei rose 1.25 per cent.

Elsewhere, Singapore was up 0.63 per cent, Kuala Lumpur gained 0.31 per cent, Jakarta rose 0.95 per cent while Mumbai surged 1.43 per cent and Bangkok was 1.15 per cent higher after a recent tumble on political tensions.

TOKYO: Share prices closed up 0.62 per cent, boosted by a Wall Street rally overnight and a softer yen which raised optimism about the outlook for exporter earnings.

The Nikkei-225 index rose 109.52 points to 17,842.29. Volume traded dropped to 1.85 billion shares from 2.12 billion on Wednesday.

Investors were heartened after US bond yields eased as the rising yields had become a main concern of the market, said Hideo Mizutani, chief strategist at Sieg Securities.

HONG KONG: Share prices closed 1.40 per cent higher taking a lead from Wall Street's strong rebound overnight.

Dealers said a drop in Treasury bond yields and a set of positive US economic data helped restore investor confidence after volatile trade.

The Hang Seng Index closed up 288.51 points at 20,867.26. Turnover was 69.8 billion Hong Kong (US$8.9 billion).

SHANGHAI: Share prices closed 1.47 per cent lower after Premier Wen Jiabao indicated the government would make further efforts to cool the fast growing economy.

Premier Wen told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the government should “appropriately” tighten its monetary policies to prevent the economy from overheating.

SYDNEY: Share prices closed 1.30 per cent higher after a rebound on Wall Street, with resource stocks leading the broader market.

Dealers said the resources sector attracted a lot of attention despite concerns that the prospect of higher interest rates globally could dampen demand, with most of the view that any such impact would be limited.

The S&P/ASX 200 added 80.5 points at 6,261.2. Turnover was 2.02 billion shares worth 6.7 billion dollars (5.6 billion US).

SINGAPORE: Share prices closed 0.63 per cent higher, tracking gains in regional markets and Wall Street's recovery.

US shares powered higher on fresh signs of strength in consumer spending along with encouraging signals from the Federal Reserve on economic growth as well as muted inflation.

The Straits Times Index ended 22.21 points higher at 3,573.43 on volume of 3.48 billion shares worth 2.18 billion dollars (1.42 billion US).

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed 0.31 per cent higher in quiet trade led by select construction and property counters.

Dealers said a deal inked between a Malaysian consortium and a Qatar-based firm for a planned collaboration in a 2.9 billion dollars energy city project there helped spur interest in select construction and property counters.

The composite index gained 4.15 points to 1,357.18 on turnover of 1.354 billion shares worth 2.19 billion ringgit (632 million dollars).

There has been a trend that local companies are embarking on (overseas expansion), said Kaladher Govindan, head of research at TA Securities.

JAKARTA: Share prices closed 0.95 per cent higher supported by a rebound on Wall Street overnight which fed through into firmer finishes in key East Asian markets.

Dealers said gains were led by Telkom, miners and interest rate-sensitive stocks such as banks.

The composite index closed up 19.811 points at 2,108.412 on volume of 3.61 billion shares valued at 3.56 trillion rupiah ($392,07m).

WELLINGTON: Share prices closed little changed as uncertainty about the local economic outlook kept investors sidelined.

Dealers said the local sharemarket gave up early gains which followed the strong finish by Wall Street.

The NZX-50 gross index fell 0.9 points to 4,193.67 on light turnover worth 64.3 million dollars (48.3 million US).

MUMBAI: Share prices rose 1.43 per cent on strong regional market trends as the benchmark 30-share Sensex crossed the 14,200 level on fund buying in metal and banking stocks.

The 30-share Sensex index rose 200.69 points to 14,203.72.—AFP