July 14, 2007	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 28, 1428

HONG KONG, July 13: Asian stocks rallied sharply higher on Friday after Wall Street notched-up its strongest daily performance in almost four years for another record finish. Mergers and upbeat retail figures were behind the 2.0 per cent surge in New York with Asia tracking the performance. This resulted in Hong Kong, Mumbai, Seoul, Singapore and Jakarta all striking best ever closes.

Tokyo was typical for the day, advancing 1.42 per cent with investors also buoyed by weakness in the yen which makes exports cheaper. Taipei was up 1.25 per cent, Kuala Lumpur climbed 1.32 per cent and Bangkok was up 1.81 per cent.

Sydney was up 0.41 per cent with sentiment supported by Rio Tinto's 38.1 billion US dollar bid for Alcan. Manila rose 0.78 per cent.

TOKYO: Share prices closed 1.42 per cent higher as investors cheered Thursday's rise on Wall Street, where stocks posted the sharpest per centage gain in almost four years.

The Nikkei-225 index rose 254.81 points to 18,238.95. Turnover was 2.02 billion shares, down from 2.20 billion shares Thursday.

HONG KONG: Share prices closed 1.27 per cent higher, with the benchmark hitting another milestone as it broke 23,000 points for the first time, helped by continued gains in heavyweight China Mobile.

The Hang Seng Index closed up 290.27 points at 23,099.29. Turnover was 80.44 billion Hong Kong dollars (10.3 billion US).

SYDNEY: Share prices rose 0.41 per cent Friday as Rio Tinto's 38.1 billion US dollar bid for Alcan sparked a frenzy of takeover speculation about possible deals in the key resources sector.

Wall Street's record performance overnight added to the positive tone to leave the local market just short of the all-time high set on Monday.

The S&P/ASX 200 ended up 26.0 points at 6,389.4. Turnover was 1.86 billion shares worth 6.44 billion dollars (5.53 billion US).

SINGAPORE: Share prices closed sharply higher to a fresh record peak as they tracked gains in other regional markets following Wall Street's overnight rally.

The Straits Times Index soared 30.05 points to 3,654.61. Volume traded was 4.19 billion shares worth 2.91 billion Singapore dollars (1.93 billion US).

KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed 1.37 per cent higher led by sharp gains in power company Tenaga Nasional and late buying in selected blue chips.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index closed up 18.70 points to 1,384.72. Volume was 1.473 billion shares worth 2.592 billion ringgit (753.5 million dollars).

JAKARTA: Share prices closed up 0.73 per cent at a fresh record high with sentiment bolstered by gains on Wall Street overnight.

The composite index closed up 16.685 points at 2,301.601. Volume was 4.5 billion shares valued at 3.5 trillion rupiah (387.60 million dollars).

WELLINGTON: Share prices closed 0.12 per cent higher, lifted by top stock Telecom and optimism on Wall Street.The NZX-50 index was 5.12 points up at 4,243.66 on turnover worth 175.61 million dollars (136.50 million US).

The positive tone followed a surge in US stocks with Telecom rising two cents to 4.66 dollars, but Goldman Sachs JB Were broker Grant Taylor said the market was not getting carried away.

MUMBAI: Share prices closed up 1.2 per cent at a fresh record high amid strong global trends, a best ever finish on Wall Street and sustained fund buying.

The 30-share Sensex index rose 180.68 points to 15,272.72.

—AFP