0
HONG KONG, July 6: Asian stocks closed mostly higher on Friday with investors consolidating their positions on local issues after Wall Street failed to deliver a solid overnight lead.
Brighter prospects for the IT sector, corporate upgrades, and easing inflation and interest rates helped Seoul, Hong Kong, Jakarta and Mumbai to all close at record highs.
However, elsewhere benchmarks finished lower with profit taking on the back of recent sharp gains contributing to falls, particularly in Manila which was the worst on the day with a 1.14 percent slump.
Tokyo shed 0.44 percent while Sydney eased 0.18 per cent, and Wellington was off 0.31 percent.
TOKYO: Share prices snapped a six-day winning streak as investors pocketed gains ahead of key US jobs data and next week's domestic machinery orders report.
Dealers said a mixed session overnight on Wall Street as investors returned from the Independence Day holiday also weighed on sentiment.
The Nikkei-225 index fell 80.54 points to 18,140.94. Turnover rose to 1.68 billion shares from 1.67 billion Thursday.
HONG KONG: Share prices closed 1.25 per cent higher with the main index sweeping past the 22,500 level to hit a new record.
Dealers said blue chips such as Hutchison Whampoa posted strong gains following target price upgrades by brokerages and the index was also supported by rotational interest in property stocks, which lagged the recent rally.
Buying activity picked up in late trade as mainland bourses staged a strong recovery following a slide on Thursday.
SYDNEY: Share prices closed 0.18 percent lower as the market gave back some of the gains made the previous day.
Dealers said the easier finish came despite another record breaking performance for BHP Billiton as investors anticipated all time high full-year earnings for the top global miner next month.
The S&P/ASX 200 fell 11.2 points at 6,351.1. Turnover was 1.59 billion shares worth 6.0 billion dollars (5.1 billion US).
Index heavyweight BHP Billiton hit a record high for the fourth straight session ahead of its annual results which are expected to come in around a record 13.5 billion US dollars.
SINGAPORE: Share prices closed 0.29 per cent higher led by gains in banks and offshore marine issues amid a buoyant economy.
However, gains were limited by profit-taking in select blue chip stocks and Wall Street's lacklustre performance on Thursday, dealers said.
The Straits Times Index rose 10.28 points to 3,561.96 with 4.10 billion shares traded valued at 2.15 billion Singapore dollars (1.41 billion US).
A dealer with a local brokerage said rotational interest in banks underpinned Friday's trade, adding however that the market was in a consolidation mode following recent rallies.
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed 0.33 per cent higher on a technical rebound driven by gains in construction and property stocks.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index gained 4.54 points to 1,373.84 with 1.3 billion shares traded worth 1.97 billion ringgit.
Phua Kwee Hock, technical chartist at SJ Securities, said speculative interest in small-capitalised stocks also helped the market.
JAKARTA: Share prices closed 0.28 per cent higher on follow-through buying in big caps led by the country's biggest car dealer Astra International.
Dealers said that the latest interest rate cut will boost corporate earnings in the second half, sending the benchmark index to yet another record closing.
Other key gainers included coal miner Bumi Resources and nickel miner Antam.
Bank Indonesia yesterday cut its benchmark interest rate, called the BI rate, by 25 basis points to 8.25 percent. With the latest cut, the central bank has trimmed the key rate by a cumulative 450 basis points since May 2006.
The composite index closed up 6.120 points at 2,227.051. Volume was 5.75 billion shares worth 4.29 trillion rupiah (474.82 million dollars).
WELLINGTON: Share prices closed 0.31 per cent lower as a lack of news continued to leave the market treading water.
The NZX-50 gross index fell 13.18 points to 4,223.53 on turnover worth 127.2 million dollars (99.5 million US).
We've had reasonable volume but still really lacking any impetus,First NZ Capital's Don Lewthwaite said.
It's sort of running on the spot and still waiting for direction. Telecom fell four cents to 4.62 dollars.
MUMBAI: Share prices closed at a new record high, after crossing the key 15,000-point mark in intraday trade as interest rate worries eased.
The 30-share Sensex index closed up 102.23 points at 14,964.12.
This was a historic day with a new level set. Fresh direction will come next week as earnings data comes in, said Hiten Mehta, a fund manager at Fortune Financial Services.—AFP
