HONG KONG, Oct 5: Asian stocks closed sharply higher on Thursday with investors following the upbeat mood on Wall Street where the Dow Jones again closed at a record high.
A positive outlook for the US economy delivered by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke also added some shine in Asian trade with investors becoming increasingly convinced the US economy is headed for a soft landing.
TOKYO: Shares surged to their highest level for almost five months after Wall Street entered uncharted territory on hopes that the US economy will avoid a hard landing.
The Nikkei-225 index closed up 366.78 points or 2.28 percent to 16,449.33, the strongest finish since May 15, after Wall Street's Dow Jones index hit a new record high overnight.
Turnover was 1.88 billion shares, down slightly from 1.91 billion Wednesday.
HONG KONG: Share prices closed sharply higher, gaining 1.58 per cent, with the benchmark index at its highest finish since July 2000.
Dealers said HSBC, China Mobile and some other blue chips posted strong gains after Wall's Street's rally overnight.
The key Hang Seng Index closed up 278.46 points at 17,907.67. Turnover was 43.37 billion Hong Kong dollars (5.56 billion US dollars).
SYDNEY: Share prices closed 1.49 per cent higher as investor sentiment was buoyed by the overnight rise to record levels on Wall Street.
The key SP/ASX 200 advanced 76.6 points to close at the day's high of 5,219.3. Turnover was 1.20 billion shares worth 4.39 billion dollars (3.28 billion dollars US).
SINGAPORE: Share prices closed 1.48 per cent higher, edging closer to all-time highs, following the lead of Wall Street's Dow Jones share index which reached a new record level.
The Straits Times index was up 38.56 points at 2,641.48, off its all-time record close of 2,659.85 reached on May 3. The volume was 1.61 billion shares worth 1.47 billion Singapore dollars (930 million US).
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed 0.50 per cent higher after the government released data showing a strong trade surplus for August.
JAKARTA: Share prices closed 0.51 per cent higher, driven by late buying in some major banks after Bank Indonesia cut its key policy rate by 50 basis points to 10.75 percent.
WELLINGTON: Share prices closed little changed, despite strong gains in overseas markets as Wall Street reached new highs. The NZX-50 gross index rose 2.31 points to 3,595.70 on turnover worth $110.4 million (US$73.3 million).
Our market is close to full value, trading a slight discount to our numbers, there or thereabouts, and in that environment it's going to be difficult for us to perform.”Market leader Telecom, which fell five cents on Wednesday, was steady at $4.27 after a downbeat annual meeting Thursday.—AFP