HONG KONG, June 6: Asian stocks closed mostly up on Friday after a strong Wall Street rally lifted investor sentiment and a surge in crude prices boosted oil company shares.

The Japanese stock market rose more than one per cent to its highest level in roughly five months, while Australia rose 1.1 per cent as oil shares rallied following the sharp rise in crude prices.

Investors in Asia were also cheered by better performance on Wall Street, which rallied over 1.7 per cent Thursday after Verizon Wireless announced it had agreed to buy mobile operator Alltel in a blockbuster 28.1-billion-dollar deal.

The Indian stock market slipped 1.25 per cent in the wake of a fuel price hike earlier in the week, but Malaysian shares rebounded two per cent after sliding following the country’s 41-per cent fuel price hike.

TOKYO: Japanese share prices climbed to the highest level in about five months, boosted by an overnight rally on Wall Street and a weaker yen, which benefits exporters, dealers said.

The benchmark Nikkei-225 index rose 148.32 points or 1.03 per cent to 14,489.44, the best finish since January 9. The broader Topix index of all first-section shares added 3.66 points or 0.26 per cent to 1,428.11.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices closed up 0.61 per cent, dealers said.

The Hang Seng Index rose 146.89 points to 24,402.18. Turnover fell to 58.62 billion Hong Kong dollars (7.52 billion US dollars) from 63.69 billion dollars on Thursday.

Francis Lun, general manager at Fulbright Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires that he expected the index to fall to below 24,000 next week.

SYDNEY: Australian shares closed up 1.1 per cent, dealers said.

The benchmark SP/ASX 200 index climbed 62 points to 5,592.1 and the broader All Ordinaries added 57.4 points to 5,691.2. Volume was 5.13 billion dollars (4.8 billion US).

BHP Billiton added 3.5 per cent to close at 44.00 dollars. Woodside Petroleum gained 3.3 per cent to 60.58 dollars. National Australia Bank dropped 1.4 per cent to 29.52 dollars but Macquarie Group added 3.9 per cent to 55.99.

SINGAPORE: Singapore share prices closed little changed, dealers said.

The blue chip Straits Times Index closed 2.84 points higher at 3,146.73 on volume of 1.03 billion shares worth 1.36 billion Singapore dollars (1.0 billion US).

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian stocks jumped to close up 2.0 per cent, dealers said.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index rose 25.01 points to 1,248.57.

Tenaga leapt 23.3 per cent to 9.00 ringgit, Sime Darby rose 2.3 per cent to 9.05 ringgit and IOI Corp was 1.4 per cent stronger at 7.20 ringgit.

JAKARTA: Indonesian shares closed little changed, dealers said. The Jakarta Composite Index ended up 2.57 points at 2,402.24.

Profit taking by foreign funds offset earlier gains, a trader said.

Coal miner Bumi closed up 2.6 per cent at 7,900 rupiah while rival Bukit Asam was up 7.8 per cent at 15,250. Bellwether Telkom fell 2.5 per cent at 7,950.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices closed 0.22 per cent lower, dealers said.

The NZX-50 gross index fell 7.89 points to 3,548.08.

Telecom fell five cents to 3.86 dollars. Air New Zealand gained a cent to 1.17 dollars after announcing further fare rises and some route changes.

MUMBAI: Indian share prices closed down 1.25 per ent, dealers said. The benchmark Mumbai 30-share Sensex fell 197.54 points to 15,572.18.

The markets could move sideways due to the impact of rising crude on India’s economy, said Prateek Agarwal—AFP