HONG KONG, Dec 26: Asian stocks closed mixed on Tuesday in slow post Christmas holiday trade with those investors in the market positioning themselves ahead of the New Year.
Hong Kong, Sydney, Manila and Wellington remained closed for Christmas holidays while Singapore and Shanghai provided the highlights with both closing again at record highs.
Elsewhere, Tokyo was up 0.45 per cent after a bag of mixed economic data implied interest rates would remain at current levels over the short term while solid gains were also notched-up in Taipei and Bangkok.
Mumbai surged 1.76 per cent, however, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Seoul posted minor losses on profit taking.
TOKYO: Share prices closed up 0.45 per cent, reversing early losses as mixed data convinced the market that interest rates were unlikely to go up soon.
Dealers said the mood was also boosted in thin holiday-season trade by the strengthening dollar against the yen, which helps Japanese exporters.
The Nikkei-225 gained 76.30 points at 17,169.19. Volume rose to 1.72 billion shares from 1.39 billion on Monday.
Before the bell, Japan released data showing a rise in its core consumer price index (CPI) for November but also another fall in household spending.
Dealers said the figures led to doubts that the Bank of Japan will quickly raise interest rates, which it left at a super-low 0.25 per cent last week.
The November CPI data failed to alter market expectations that the Bank of Japan is unlikely to hike interest rates in January, said Kazuhiro Takahashi, equity general manager at Daiwa Securities.
Although the unemployment rate and household spending data showed small improvement, they were not strong enough to give the market incentive to buy aggressively, he said.
He said the market initially lacked direction, losing ground in the morning session, because the US markets were closed Monday.
Shares in Sega Sammy, which makes video games and pinball machines, rose 50 yen or 1.6 per cent to 3,160 after it reached an alliance with Sanrio, maker of the global icon of cuteness Hello Kitty.Sanrio, whose celebrated female cat could enter the video-game world through the tie-up, went up 13 yen or 0.72 per cent to close at 1,816.
SINGAPORE: Share prices closed steady in thin trading in the absence of fresh leads.
Dealers said investors were selective with trading volumes thin because of the year-end holidays.
The Straits Times Index closed at 2,942.53 points, up 0.14 points from Friday's record closing high of 2,942.39. Volume totalled 753 million shares worth 524 million Singapore dollars (340 million US).
“We saw some selective plays with China stocks slightly stronger today,” a dealer at a local brokerage said, adding “the market will most likely be quiet for the rest of this week as a lot of people are away.”For China-related stocks, China Energy added 0.055 to 1.02 and was the most active stock with 46.97 million shares changing hands while China Sun Bio-chem Technology advanced 0.01 to 0.67 and Hengxin Technology rose 0.07 to 0.635.
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed 0.15 per cent lower due to profit-taking in blue chips, dealers said.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index lost 1.57 points to 1,078.15.
JAKARTA: Indonesian share prices closed down 0.10 per cent amid a lack of fresh leads and with trading thin in a holiday shortened week going into the new year.
The composite index closed down 1.781 points at 1,783.979 on volume of 1.43 billion shares valued at 1.17 trillion rupiah (128.87 million dollars).
Among stocks in the limelight, toll road operator Citra Marga rose sharply on news that one of its shareholders, state-owned tollroad operator PT Jasa Marga will sell its entire 17.79 per cent stake in the company.
Edwin Sebayang, an analyst with Evergreen Capital, said trading was listless with many investors, including foreigners, having closed their books and exited the market ahead of the end of the year.
“Those investors that were in the market today were mostly retail players,”Sebayang said.
Indosat rose 200 rupiah to 6,300.
MUMBAI: Share prices closed 1.76 per cent higher led by software companies as fund managers added benchmark companies to their portfolios and dropped smaller stocks.
Dealers said fresh buying in blue-chip companies was likely to continue into next year as fund managers typically look to redirect investments at the end of the calendar year.
The 30-share Mumbai stock exchange Sensex index ended up 236.6 points or 1.76 per cent to 13,708.34 with India's largest software company, Tata Consultancy Services up 38.9 rupees or 3.38 per cent to 1,190.25.
We saw typical year-end activity where some funds churn portfolios by moving out of illiquid stocks to index stocks to boost their asset values, said R. Balakrishnan, a director with Parallex Consultancy Services.--AFP