HONG KONG, Feb 6: Asian stocks shrugged off another mixed performance by Wall Street on Tuesday and closed mostly higher with investors buoyed by the latest round of corporate results.
The batch of quarterly results from around Asia Pacific had been at the top end of expectations and attracted capital from outside the region.
This largely offset profit taking ahead of Chinese Lunar New Year holidays and pushed Taipei up 1.19 per cent, Shanghai surged 2.42 per cent, Hong Kong gained 0.98 per cent and Kuala Lumpur was up 0.89 per cent.
Tokyo rose 0.36 per cent and Seoul climbed 0.75 per cent as Sydney surged 0.83 per cent to another record high on support for banks and miners.
TOKYO: Share prices closed modestly higher, rebounding from the previous day's sharp losses helped by generally solid recent company results.
Dealers said gains were capped, however, with investors cautious ahead of more earnings reports and a meeting this weekend of top world finance chiefs where the weakness of the yen is expected to be on the agenda.
The Nikkei-225 index gained 62.06 points to 17,406.86. Volume was 2.23 billion shares, down slightly from 2.26 billion on Monday.
HONG KONG: Share prices closed 0.98 per cent higher led by China Mobile and select other blue chips following gains on the mainland bourses and expectations of strong results from some local firms this week.
The Hang Seng Index closed up 199.58 points at 20,655.20. Turnover was 50.35 billion Hong Kong dollars (6.5 billion US).
“Many investors expect both Esprit and Bank of East Asia to report earnings growth of at least 20 per cent this week,” said Kitty Chan, director at Celestial Asia Securities Holdings.
This expectation has done a great deal in lifting sentiment, she said. China Mobile was up 2.25 at 75.75.
SYDNEY: Share prices closed up 0.83 per cent at a new record high as investors bought blue chip stocks including miners and banks.
Dealers said investor sentiment remained strong as the reporting season picked up steam, with BHP Billiton due to release an expected record half-year net profit of over six billion dollars on Wednesday.
The key S and P/ASX 200 ended up 48.4 points at 5,870.5. A total of 1.74 billion shares worth 5.5 billion dollars (4.3 billion US) were traded.
SINGAPORE: Share prices closed flat as Wall Street's lacklustre performance gave investors an excuse to cash in on the market's recent record-breaking run. The Straits Times Index eased 0.07 points to 3,223.25. Volume traded was 2.12 billion shares worth 1.90 billion Singapore dollars (1.24 US).
If companies are making good profits in a rising economy, it should create quite a positive outlook for stocks, a dealer with a local brokerage said.
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed up 0.89 per cent in mixed trade on profit-taking.
Dealers said the benchmark index, however, continued to post gains after the ringgit rose to its highest level since it was de-pegged from the US dollar in July 2005.
JAKARTA: Share prices closed 0.41 per cent lower amid concerns flooding in and around Jakarta over the past few days will push up the inflation rate for February.
The composite index closed down 7.246 points at 1,761.293 on volume of 1.89 billion shares valued at 1.70 trillion rupiah (187.64 million dollars).
The BI rate cut is positive but many investors seem more concerned about the outlook for inflation this month and next as a result of the floods in Jakarta and other parts of the country, Poltak Hotradero, Europeregrine Securities said. Telkom fell 100 rupiah to 9,450.
MUMBAI: Share prices closed 0.26 per cent lower to snap four straight days of gains as investors sold shares in leading companies to lock-in profits.
Dealers said investors sold benchmark index companies but bought mid- and small-cap stocks.
The 30-share Sensex index fell 37.71 points to 14,478.19.
The markets had risen smartly since last week. We expect a correction, said Hiten Mehta, a fund manager with Fortune Financial Services.—AFP