April 04, 2008	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 26, 1429

HONG KONG, April 3: Asian stocks closed mostly higher on Thursday amid improving hopes for the United States subprime housing industry but prospects of a US recession continued to weigh on sentiment.

Wall Street closed slightly lower Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the US economy may contract in the first half, suggesting the world’s biggest economy is already in recession.

In Tokyo, a weaker yen supported equities and the benchmark closed up 1.52 per cent.

This lent further support to the region where Seoul rose 1.2 per cent, Sydney gained 1.9 per cent and Wellington was 1.04 per cent higher.

TOKYO: Japanese share prices closed up 1.52 per cent at a one-month high, lifted by a weaker yen and hopes of an easing of the recent credit crunch on Wall Street.

The Nikkei-225 index rose 200.54 points to 13,389.90. Turnover rose to 2.072 billion shares from 2.067 billion Wednesday.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices closed higher, up 1.64 per cent, as China financials and commodity stocks posted strong gains.

The Hang Seng index closed up 392.2 points at 24,264.63. Turnover was 91.5 billion Hong Kong dollars (11.8 billion US).

Mainland financials were lifted by a rebound in Shanghai and hopes that Beijing may hold off on further monetary tightening measures as China’s economy is showing signs of slowing down.

SYDNEY: Australian share prices closed up 1.9 per cent, led by the resources sector on stronger metal and oil prices.

The S&P/ASX 200 closed up 106 points at 5,608. Volume traded was 2.1 billion shares valued at 6.3 billion dollars (5.8 billion US).

Today, we have seen buying across the board, said Justin Gallagher, head of sales trading at ABN Amro.

SINGAPORE: Singapore share prices closed 1.50 per cent higher on investor interest in select blue chips.

The blue chip Straits Times Index rose 46.94 points to 3,171.55 on volume of 1.68 billion shares worth 2.08 billion Singapore dollars (1.51 billion US).

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices closed 1.1 per cent lower amid political uncertainties, with construction and palm oil stocks leading the fall.

JAKARTA: Indonesian share prices closed 4.5 per cent lower with trading dominated by fears rising inflation could weaken consumer buying and squeeze company profits.

The composite index closed down 104.22 points at 2,237.97. Volume was 5.16 billion shares worth 7.99 trillion rupiah (870.64 million dollars).

WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices closed up 1.04 per cent, as gains in overseas markets prompted a late improvement in sentiment.

The NZX-50 gross index rose 37.19 points to 3,629.98 on turnover worth 116.5 million dollars (91.7 million US).

For no-one to be selling into a rally of five days is quite positive, it certainly flags at least an easing in negative sentiment, said Bryon Burke of ABN Amro Craigs.

MUMBAI: Indian share prices rose 0.52 per cent shedding morning gains after European markets opened weak led by Wall Street losses overnight.

The Mumbai Sensex rose 82.15 points to 15,832.55.—AFP