June 29, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-us-Sani 13, 1428

HONG KONG, June 28: Asian stocks followed Wall Street's lead and closed mostly higher Thursday on bargain hunting with investors maintaining a cautious stance amid a meeting of the US federal reserve.

TOKYO: Share prices rallied after several days of losses as an overnight rebound on Wall Street provided some much-needed cheer for investors.

The Nikkei-225 index added 82.99 points to 17,932.27. Turnover was 1.61 billion shares, down from 1.87 billion on Wednesday.

HONG KONG: Share prices closed 1.07 per cent higher as fund managers spruced up portfolios ahead of book closings for the first half year, boosting blue chips and China firms.

SYDNEY: Share prices rose 1.32 per cent, breaking a five-day losing streak as bargain hunters emerged on the back of a positive lead from Wall Street.

SINGAPORE: Share prices closed 0.93 per cent higher after four days of losses, amid caution before the close of the US Federal Reserve policymakers' meeting.

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed 0.49 per cent lower as investors continue to trim holdings ahead of the US Federal Reserve announcement on interest rates.

JAKARTA: Share prices closed 0.59 per cent lower for a second straight day of losses as investors continued to take profit in big caps that had seen recent gains.

WELLINGTON: Share prices closed 0.32pc lower as the strong currency weighed on sentiment.

MUMBAI: Share prices rose 0.51pc with select buying as global markets improved ahead of the latest US Fed Reserve Bank statement on monetary policy.—AFP