HONG KONG, Oct 29: Asia’s stocks were mostly higher on Wednesday, led by a surge in Tokyo, as traders anticipated an interest rate cut in the United States and a similar move in Japan.

Markets got off to a flying start, taking their cue from a near-11 per cent rally overnight on the Dow Jones, but later fell back as investor fear for the future of the global economy sunk in.

The Nikkei soared for a second straight day, boosted by a weaker yen, which helps exporters, and bargain hunting following a collapse on Friday and Monday.

The index closed 7.74 per cent higher, returning above the 8,000 point level.

It had fallen below 7,000 earlier in the week.

Hong Kong closed the day 0.8 per cent higher -- after rising 5.6 per cent in the morning -- and Sydney edged up 1.3 per cent, while Taipei added 0.15 per cent and Singapore was 0.28 per cent better off.

Tokyo stocks were also boosted by a report in the Nikkei business daily that the Bank of Japan (BoJ) is leaning toward” reducing its key interest rate by 25 basis points to 0.25 per cent Friday.

TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei stock index soared more than seven per cent.

Hopes that Japan’s central bank may move in tandem with other central banks lifted sentiment for sure, but rallies may be short-lived, Kazuhiro Miyake, chief strategist at Daiwa Institute of Research, said.

The Nikkei index ended up 589.98 points, or 7.74 per cent, at 8,211.90 points, following a 6.4 per cent gain on Tuesday.

The Topix index of all first section issues climbed 46.29 points, or 5.9 per cent, to 830.32.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong shares ended 0.8 per cent higher.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index rose 105.78 points to 12,702.07. Turnover was 59,23 billion Hong Kong dollars (7.59 billion US).

Investment manager Jackson Wong at Tanrich Securities predicted the index would remain volatile, in a range of 12,000 to 13,000, for the near term.

SYDNEY: Australian share prices closed up 1.3 per cent.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 was 51 points higher at 3,845.6 while the broader All Ordinaries rose 50.4 points to 3,805.8.

A total of 1.64 billion shares valued at 5.23 billion dollars (3.35 billion US dollars) changed hands.

The key index climbed almost five per cent in intraday trade driven by the mining and financial sectors, dealers said.

SINGAPORE: Share prices recovered from early losses to close 0.28 per cent higher.

The main Straits Times Index rose 4.71 points to 1,671.20 on volume of 1.44 billion shares worth 1.51 billion Singapore dollars (1.0 billion US).

Sentiment however remained cautious due to a bleak economic outlook.

DBS rose 40 cents to 10.60, United Overseas Bank was up six cents to 12.80 and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp declined 31 cents to 4.8.

CapitaLand eased one cent to 2.63, Telecom was unchanged at 2.41 and Singapore Airlines tumbled 50 cents to 10.30.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian shares fell 0.4 per cent.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index shed 3.03 points to end the day at 829.41.

DiGi fell 8.1 per cent to 19.20 ringgit, IJM Corp lost 12.2 per cent to 2.45 and Tenaga shed 2.4 per cent to 6.00.

JAKARTA: Indonesian shares closed 0.2 per cent higher.

The Jakarta Composite Index rose 2.23 points to 1,113.62.

Bellwether Telkom rose two per cent to 5,100 rupiah and Bank Danamon soared 9.6 per cent to 2,000 on bargain hunting.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand share prices closed 2.18 per cent higher.

The benchmark NZX-50 index rose 58.49 points to close at 2,745.60.

Market leader Telecom surrendered its early gains to close down six cents at 2.21 dollars.

MUMBAI: Indian shares rose 0.4 per cent.

The benchmark 30-share Sensex index climbed 36.43 points to 9,044.51, off the day’s high of 9,297.76.—AFP