HONG KONG, Sept 19: Asian stocks surged on Friday following a rebound on Wall Street as the US government and the world’s central banks moved to put the brakes on the global financial crisis.

Hong Kong put on 9.6 per cent and Shanghai added nearly 9.5 per cent after Beijing abolished a stock transaction duty in a bid to prevent a market slide that threatened to hit millions of middle-class Chinese.

Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei-225 index, which had slipped a day before to a more than three-year low, closed up 3.76 per cent.

Dealers were buoyed by news of an emergency meeting in Washington between the government, the Federal Reserve and lawmakers sought find a way out of the worst financial crisis in decades.

Traders in Asia were also helped by the announcement Thursday that the world’s major central banks had taken coordinated action to ensure a global liquidity flow.

The Bank of Japan on Friday injected another three trillion yen (28.3 billion dollars) into the money markets.

TOKYO: Japanese shares closed up 3.76 per cent, dealers said.

The Tokyo Stock Exchange’s benchmark Nikkei-225 index closed up 431.56 points to 11,920.86. The broader Topix index of all first-section shares rose 51.44 points or 4.69 per cent to 1,149.12.

The market also gained from an easing of the yen against the dollar, which is good news for Japanese exporters.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong shares closed up 9.6 per cent, dealers said.

The Hang Seng Index added 1,695.27 points to finish at 19,327.73, posting its biggest gain in eight months. Turnover was 124.57 billion Hong Kong dollars (16 billion US dollars).

All but four of the 43 Hang Seng Index constituents rose.

SYDNEY: Australian shares rebounded to close up 4.3 per cent, dealers said.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose 198.2 points to 4,805.5, while the broader All Ordinaries was up 190.7 points at 4,842.6.

A total of 2.09 billion shares worth 9.28 billion dollars (7.42 billion US) was traded, with 805 stocks up, 306 down and 285 unchanged.

SINGAPORE: Shares closed 5.78 per cent higher, dealers said.

The blue-chip Straits Times Index rose 139.86 points to 2,559.07 on volume of 2.13 billion shares worth 2.71 billion Singapore dollars (1.89 billion US).

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian share prices surged 3.4 per cent higher, dealers said.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index rose 34.04 points to close at 1,025.70.

Resorts World added 5.2 per cent at 2.65 ringgit, IOI Corp. climbed 6.9 per cent to 4.34 ringgit, Commerce-Asset Holdings rose seven per cent to 7.60 and Tenaga Nasional rebounded 10.4 per cent to 6.90.

JAKARTA: Indonesian shares jumped 5.8 per cent higher, dealers said.

The Jakarta Composite Index recorded its biggest per centage gain for 2008, rising 104.06 points to 1,891.73.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices closed up 0.89 per cent, dealers said.

The benchmark NZX-50 index gained 28.20 points to 3,187.13.

Fletcher Building rose three cents to 6.98 while Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was up eight cents at 3.16.

MUMBAI: Indian shares surged 5.46 per cent, traders said.

The BSE benchmark 30 share Sensex index rose 726.72 points to 14,042.32.—AFP