HONG KONG, Dec 28: Asian stocks extended their year-end rally on Thursday with Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Jakarta and Wellington following Wall Street's lead and again closing at record highs.
Strength in New York due to an improved outlook for the US housing sector, end of year window dressing and an upbeat outlook for 2007, combined to propel regional benchmarks sharply higher.
Bangkok bucked the trend and slumped 1.09 percent with anxious investors concerned over the military-installed government's economic policies.
TOKYO: Share prices struggled to advance due to profit-taking after recent gains as the market wound down for the year-end holidays.
The Nikkei-225 gained 1.66 points at 17,224.81. Volume rose to 1.77 billion shares from 1.66 billion shares Wednesday.
The market had difficulties trying higher prices at the year-end with profit-taking weighing it down, Mizutani said. Nippon Steel rose 34 yen to 677.
HONG KONG: Share prices closed at fresh all-time highs, breaking the key 20,000 points level after another record performance on Wall Street overnight.
The Hang Seng index closed up 276.18 points or 1.40 percent at 20,001.91. Turnover was 54.29 billion Hong Kong dollars (7.00 billion US).
Bank of China rose by its 10 per cent daily limit to 4.94 yuan.
SYDNEY: Share prices closed at fresh record highs as firmer base metal and gold prices boosted major mining stocks.
The SP/ASX 200 rose 17.3 points or 0.31 percent to 5,660.5. Turnover was a light 887.2 million shares worth 2.13 billion dollars (1.68 billion US).
SINGAPORE: Share prices closed at a new record high despite Asia-wide disruptions to Internet access.
The Straits Times Index rose 2.24 points to 2,963.49. Volume was 1.74 billion shares worth 1.16 billion dollars (755 million US).
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed 0.52 per cent higher on window-dressing, while plantation stocks saw renewed buying interest on firmer crude palm oil prices.
JAKARTA: Share prices closed up 0.13 per cent to end the year on a record high after gaining 55 percent in 2006 to make it one of Asia's best-performing bourses.
WELLINGTON: Share prices closed 0.38 per cent higher to a fresh record due to the impact of strong overseas markets in thin holiday season trading.
The NZX-50 gross index rose 15.22 points to 4,047.29 on turnover worth 53.0 million New Zealand dollars (37.2 million US).
Market leader Telecom closed up 11 cents at 4.90 dollars.
MUMBAI: Share prices closed down 0.1 per cent, snapping four days of gains, in rangebound trade as investors turned cautious at the expiry of the December futures market contract.—AFP
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