May 20, 2008	Tuesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 14, 1429

HONG KONG, May 19: Asian stocks closed mostly higher on Monday with the Japanese market jumping to a four-month high and Taiwanese shares rising sharply, continuing a period of better regional investor sentiment.

The Tokyo bourse rose 0.35 per cent to close at its best level since January. The high price of crude oil helped some Japanese energy stocks to post strong gains.

The market in Taiwan rose more than one per cent ahead of Tuesday’s inauguration of Ma Ying-jeou as the island’s president. Investors expect Ma will seek friendlier bilateral and commercial ties with mainland China.

Hong Kong and Australia rose too. The Sydney bourse closed 0.3 per cent higher, helped by a 1.8 per cent spike in mining giant BHP Billiton to a record $49.55.

But the stock market in China ended 0.54 per cent down as investors continued to digest the economic losses caused by last week’s deadly earthquake in Sichuan, which left 71,000 dead, missing or buried.

Both the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges suspended trading for three minutes in the afternoon session, as part of national mourning for the victims.

State media said the earthquake would trim 0.2 per centage points from China’s economic growth this year but that the effects would be short-lived.

TOKYO: Japanese share prices edged up to a fresh four-month high, led by energy-related issues, with investors remaining upbeat despite a subdued session on Wall Street on Friday, dealers said.

The benchmark Nikkei-225 index rose 50.13 points or 0.35 per cent to end at 14,269.61, the best finish since January 10.

The broader Topix index of all first-section shares gained 8.38 points or 0.60 per cent to 1,404.25.

Volume dipped to 2.23 billion shares from 2.28 billion on Friday.

The market was unexpectedly strong after recent sharp gains, said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Management.

The Nikkei index gained more than four per cent last week.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices closed up 0.48 per cent, dealers said.

The Hang Seng index closed up 123.37 points at 25,742.23. Turnover was 70.49 billion Hong Kong dollars (9.04 billion US).

The market was supported by gains in major blue-chips, but trade remained dull with small turnover as there was not much fresh news to drive sentiment, said Tony Tong, deputy research head at China Everbright Securities.

HSBC closed up 0.22 per cent at 135.7, China Mobile rose 0.52 per cent to 134.6, and China Life was up 0.61 per cent at 33.25.

Cheung Kong was up 1.64 per cent at 130.50. CNOOC was up 3.36 per cent at 15.4 and PetroChina added 1.04 per cent at 11.64.

SYDNEY: Australian shares closed up 0.3 per cent, dealers said.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 ended up 18.4 points at 5,949.4 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index rose 28.9 points to 6,035.0. Volume was 5.1 billion dollars (4.8 billion US).

The market ran out of puff after opening with a great deal of gusto on some fairly strong gains by BHP and oil stocks, said Michael Heffernan, a private client advisor at Austock Securities.

But he said the market was near 6,000 points, representing an absolutely astonishing recovery from where it was just two months ago.Miner BHP Billiton closed up 1.8 per cent at a record$49.55. Its takeover target Rio Tinto gained 0.5 per cent to $156.10.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices closed little changed, dealers said.

The NZX-50 gross index rose 1.75 points to 3,658.95.

Probably the market will stay quiet leading into (Thursday’s) budget and movements have tended to be a little bit along the movements of the currency,said ABN Amro Craigs retail adviser Nigel Scott.—AFP