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HONG KONG, Feb 27: Asian stocks closed higher on Monday, shrugging off a lacklustre performance by Wall Street with the region buoyed by robust interest, dealers said.
They said sentiment on Wall Street had been weakened on Friday after an attempted attack on a Saudi oil refinery which caused a sharp spike in oil, however those fears subsided over the weekend.
This left regional traders to focus on local fundamentals and Jakarta was the best performer on the day with a 1.59 per cent gain amid reports Indonesia and nine of its companies could receive a ratings upgrade.
Tokyo and Seoul were supported by foreign investors, Sydney was aided by higher metal prices and Mumbai surged to another record close ahead of the release of the government’s federal budget.
Only Wellington was lower but this was largely due to that market’s biggest stock, Telecom, going ex-dividend.
TOKYO: Share prices closed 0.57 per cent higher, supported by fresh foreign investor interest after concerns they could be exiting the market had hit sentiment earlier this month.
The Nikkei-225 index added 91.04 points to 16,192.95, after touching a high of 16,290.15 as 2.22 billion shares changed hands.
HONG KONG: Share prices closed 0.59 per cent higher on strong institutional interest in HSBC ahead of its 2005 results announcement early next week.
The Hang Seng Index added 93.84 points at 15,949.89. Turnover was 35.97 billion Hong Kong dollars (4.6 billion US).
SYDNEY: Share prices closed 0.63 per cent higher with investors buoyed by strong company results and a pick up in metal and oil prices.
The key SP/ASX 200 index rose 30.7 points to 4,924.1. Turnover was 1.25 billion shares worth 4.28 billion dollars (3.17 billion US).
SINGAPORE: Share prices closed 0.97 per cent higher led by blue chip Singapore Telecommunications and China-linked stocks.
The index has broken through the 2,450 points resistance level. Most earnings will be out by tomorrow. After the earnings (season) there is unlikely to be much news flow so the market might be quiet for the next month, the dealer said.
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed 0.41 per cent higher with interest in bluechip stocks from funds and retail investors driving the gains.
The composite index was up 3.75 points to 928.66. Volume totalled 641.77 million shares worth 795.04 million ringgit (214 million dollars).
JAKARTA: Share prices closed 1.59 per cent higher, rebounding from recent losses after Moody’s said it may upgrade the country’s and several companies’ ratings.
The composite index rose 19.283 points at 1,235.423 after having fallen in the last four trading days. Volume was 1.06 billion shares worth 1.25 trillion rupiah (135.28 million dollars.)
WELLINGTON: Share prices closed 0.26 per cent lower when dominant stock Telecom fell after going ex-dividend.
The NZSX-50 gross index fell 8.77 points to 3,369.07 on turnover worth 79.5 New Zealand dollars (52.4 million US).
MUMBAI: Share prices closed up 0.80 per cent to a record high ahead of the federal budget led by buying in index-based software and banking stocks.
The 30-share Sensex index rose 81.33 points to 10,282.09.
—AFP
