HONG KONG, Oct 8: Asian stocks closed mostly higher on Monday, taking a lead from Wall Street which rallied on the back of improved job growth and calming fears that the US economy could be tipped into recession.
The US Labour Department announced that its economy added 110,000 jobs in September, more than the 100,000 that most analysts were expecting.
August figures were also revised to a gain of 89,000 jobs from the earlier estimate of a loss of 4,000 jobs. Combined, the numbers resulted in a 0.51 per cent gain in New York equities and this underpinned Asia Pacific sentiment.
Taipei stood out with a 1.04 per cent surge, Seoul rose 0.8 percent, Sydney was up 0.7 per cent and Wellington rose 0.26 per cent. Bangkok was 1.27 per cent higher, and Jakarta gained 0.9 per cent for another record finish.
Late mild profit taking pushed Singapore off its record high with its benchmark closing little changed. Kuala Lumpur was down 0.6 per cent amid position squaring ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid.
HONG KONG: Share prices reversed earlier strong gains to close 0.22 per cent lower as key blue-chips China Mobile, HSBC and oil stocks succumbed to late profit-taking.
Dealers said China banks and insurance stocks helped cushion the fall, while many coal firms also gained ahead of China Shenhua Energy’s listing on the mainland Tuesday.
The Hang Seng index closed down 61.23 points at 27,770.29. Turnover was heavy at 154.06 billion Hong Kong dollars (19.75 billion US).
China Resources Power hit a new record after upgrades by brokerages.
The market got off to a very strong start following Wall Street’s advance, positive US jobs data and a strong showing by mainland bourses.
But trade reversed course in the afternoon as investors viewed the 28,000 point mark as a good level to lock in profits.
SYDNEY: Australian shares closed up 0.7 per cent after US economic data released last week signalled the world’s largest economy may be in better shape than previously thought.
The S&P/ASX 200 closed up 48.9 points at 6,654.3 with 1.7 billion shares worth about 5.0 billion dollars (4.5 billion US) changing hands.
That was definitely a good fillip for our market today, said private client advisor at Macquarie Wealth Management Joseph Youssef. The Australian market is trading near record levels despite falling heavily in August due to the fallout from the US subprime mortgage crisis and Youssef urged investors to be cautious.
SINGAPORE: Share prices closed flat, easing slightly from record highs as profit-taking set in.
Dealers said that while market fundamentals remain firm, the index will likely be volatile in the near term given that valuations are not cheap and trading has become increasingly speculative.
The Straits Times Index closed down 2.31 points at 3,820.31, after touching an all-time intra-day high of 3,883.43. Volume totalled 4.60 billion shares worth 2.88 billion dollars (1.96 billion US).
“At current levels, we see very few favourable trades other than banking stocks and selected small-caps,” UOB Kay Hian analyst, K. Ajith, said.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices closed 0.6 per cent lower amid profit-taking ahead of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr at the end of the week.
The composite index was down 8.25 points at 1,364.14 on volume of 2.2 billion shares worth 2.1 billion ringgit (617.6 million dollars).
The market is down primarily due to investors clearing positions ahead of the Raya holidays, said Peter Lim, deputy managing director of SJ Securities, using the Malaysian term for the Eid.
JAKARTA: Indonesian share prices finished 0.9 per cent higher as the main index extended its record-setting run on the back of foreign investor interest in big-cap banks.
WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices rose 0.26 per cent following strong gains in the US at the end of last week.
But the local market did not ape the record highs for the broad US equity index on Friday night, Hamilton Hindin Greene partner Grant Williamson said.
The NZX-50 index rose 11.20 points to close at 4,295.24 on turnover worth 104.0 million dollars (79.60 million US).
Trading was typically quiet for Monday but the lack of action may have been aggravated by New Zealand’s shock elimination from the Rugby World Cup, Williamson said.—AFP
