Thursday May 15, 05:46 AM
Asian stocks gain on Wall Street rally, easing inflation worries
HONG KONG (Thomson Financial) - Asian stocks were mostly higher Thursday, tracking gains on Wall Street overnight after U.S. consumer prices rose less than forecast and oil prices eased, soothing worries about inflation.
The Dow rose
0.5 percent to 12,898.38 on Wednesday after the Labor Department reported that consumer prices increased 0.2 percent in April after rising 0.3 percent in March.
Higher consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of gross domestic product, helped alleviate fears that growth in the world's biggest economy may contract in the coming months due to the subprime mortgage crisis.
'The market will likely shake off some worries about prices, which had been a major drag in recent trades,' said Park Seong-hoon, an analyst at Woori Investment & Securities. 'Hopes are growing that the U.S. economy would not head into a hard landing after a series of pump-priming measures.'
The dollar gained against the yen and other majors, boosting Japanese export stocks. Sony Corp (Munich: 853687 - news) .'s upbeat earnings outlook also supported sentiment.
The world's second-largest consumer electronics maker forecast 20 percent growth in operating profit for the year to March 2009, even after posting its second-best operating income in the fiscal year just ended.
Sony surged 8.7 percent to 5,270 yen.
The Nikkei gained 1 percent to 14,263.41 while the broader Topix rose 1.6 percent to 1,394.26.
In Seoul, the Kospi rose 1.6 percent to 1,872..85, its best level since January, led by electronics companies. Upbeat earnings outlook and the South Korean won's continued weakness against major global currencies also boosted shares.
Samsung Electronics was up 1.6 percent at 750,000 wo,n after climbing to a fresh record of 753,000 won, with investors cheering the company's new management lineup following the resignation of its scandal-tainted chairman Lee Kun-Hee (HCCF.PK - news) .
The electronics giant, flagship of South Korea's biggest conglomerate Samsung (000835.KS - news) , appointed Lee Yoon-woo to replace Yun Jong-yong as vice chairman and chief executive officer on Wednesday. Lee previously headed the company's external relations team.
LG Electronics (066575.KS - news) soared 4.5 percent to 162,000 won after touching a record of 164,000 won earlier.
The Australian benchmarks were also higher. The S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.4 percent at 5,894.5 while the All Ordinaries index gained 0.5 percent to 5,968.3.
One of the standouts in early trading was Australia's top construction group Leighton Holdings, which this morning reported a 37 percent rise in net profit for the first nine months of its June year to A$375 million.
Leighton was up 3.6 percent at A$52.55.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite rose 0.4 percent to 1,293.0 and the Singapore Straits Times gained 0.7 percent to 3,221.19 while the Philippine composite index closed up 0.6 percent at 2,878.26. The Taiwanese Taiex climbed 1 percent to 9,105.84.
But Hong Kong pulled back 0.5 percent to 25,407.03 as investors locked in gains driven by Wall Street's advance and Shanghai market's extended rally.
The Shanghai Composite gained 0.5 percent to 3,677.08, extending a 2.7 percent rise on Wednesday. Power utilities and brokerages led the Shanghai market's advance.
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