April 17, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 10, 1429

HONG KONG, April 16: Asian stocks closed mostly up on Wednesday after official figures showed robust Chinese economic growth and record oil prices boosted resources stocks, but concerns about inflation grew.

An upbeat outlook from chip giant Intel and a Wall Street rally on Tuesday also shored up sentiment after a steep slide in Asia at the start of the week over concerns about corporate earnings amid a US-led world economic slowdown.

Japan, the region’s biggest stock market, climbed 1.20 per cent. Australia, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore also registered gains of around one per cent or more.

The crisis, triggered by defaults on riskier US mortgages, could lead to losses of nearly one trillion dollars, according to the IMF. The debacle has led to a global credit crunch threatening a US recession and world economic slowdown.

TOKYO: Japanese share prices closed up 1.20 per cent as overnight gains on Wall Street and US chip maker Intel Corp.’s quarterly earnings cheered investors, dealers said.

The benchmark Nikkei-225 index climbed 155.55 points to end at 13,146.13.

The broader Topix index of all first-section shares climbed 15.91 points or 1.27 per cent to 1,271.88.

Tokyo Electron surged 5.2 per cent to 6,300 yen.

JVC soared 11.6 per cent to 231 yen after a report the company plans to end domestic production and sales of flat-panel televisions. Mizuho Financial was up 4.2 per cent at 444,000 yen.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices closed down 0.1 per cent, dealers said.

The Hang Seng index closed down 22.98 points at 23,878.35. Turnover was 64.63 billion Hong Kong dollars (8.29 billion US).

On the positive side, China’s economy still grew at a healthy pace and did not seem to be affected much by the US economic slowdown, Yuen said.

HSBC was down 0.38 per cent at 129.60, HKEx was up 0.42 per cent at 143.10, China Life fell 1.05 per cent at 28.40 and Hutchison Whampoa shed 0.4 per cent at 75.10.

SYDNEY: Australian stocks closed up 1.3 per cent, dealers said.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 gained 69.9 points to close at 5,470.3 while the broader All Ordinaries index added 68.7 points to 5,534.6.

Turnover was 1.3 billion shares worth 5.3 billion dollars (4.9 billion US).

The market has done very well to hold its ground today with the resources sector providing most of the support for the broader market, head of sales trading at ABN Amro Justin Gallagher said.

SINGAPORE: Singapore shares prices closed 1.01 per cent higher, dealers said.

The blue chip Straits Times Index added 31 points to close at 3,087.49.

Volume was 1.48 billion dollars (1.09 billion US).

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices closed 0.8 per cent higher, dealers said.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) closed up 9.44 points at 1,253.64.

JAKARTA: Indonesian share prices closed 1.9 per cent higher, dealers said.

The Jakarta Composite Index closed up 43.67 points at 2,337.92.

Bumi surged 7.8 per cent to 6,250 rupiah. Miner Antam soared 12.1 per cent to 3,475 rupiah. Astra International rose 2.4 per cent to 20,800 rupiah.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices closed 0.39 per cent higher, dealers said.

The NZX-50 gross index rose 13.79 points to 3,516.67.

Contact Energy rose 18 cents to $8.77. Telecom was flat at 2.68 dollars and Fletcher Building was up two cents at 8.36.

MUMBAI: Indian share prices closed up 0.56 per cent, dealers said.

The benchmark Mumbai Sensex rose 90.53 points to 16,244.19.

Trading sentiment has improved, said Anurag Purohit of brokerage Religare Securities.

—AFP