Thursday May 15, 11:24 AM
Asian stocks gain on Wall Street rally as inflation worries ease UPDATE
HONG KONG (Thomson Financial) - (Adding closing levels throughout)
Asian stocks ended 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.
Shanghai and Hong Kong faltered as investors continued to assess the damage from the earthquake that struck Sichuan in western China earlier this week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.5 percent at 12,898.38 after the Labor Department reported that consumer prices increased 0.2 percent in April, after rising 0.3 percent in March. The rise was smaller than expected after the recent spike in oil and food prices.
'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 will 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 finished up 8.7 percent at 5,270 yen.
The Nikkei finished up 0.9 percent to 14,251.74 while the broader Topix rose 1.4 percent to 1,392.87.
In Seoul, the Kospi closed up 2.3 percent at 1,885.71, a five-month high as a weaker won boosted exporters.
Samsung Electronics closed up 3.5 percent at an all-time high of 764,000 won, as investors cheered 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) finished up 5.8 percent at 164,000 won after setting a record of 164,500 won earlier.
The Australian benchmarks managed more modest gains, checked by BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT.L - news) 's pullback from record levels. The S&P/ASX 200 ended up 0.3 percent at 5,890.7 while the All Ordinaries index gained 0.4 percent to 5,964.9.
BHP ended down 1.2 percent at A$47.98, a day after it struck a record A$48.90 on talk that China's state-owned aluminium group Chinalco was planning a raid on the stock.
There was no sign of a Chinalco move Thursday, leading to speculation that hedge funds were behind the previous day's move.
Meanwhile, Rio Tinto (Frankfurt: 855018 - news) ended up 0.9 percent at a record A$152.48 on expectations that BHP Billiton will at some point sweeten its hostile all-paper offer for the world's third-largest miner by adding a cash component.
'The market has performed quite well over the last week or so on merger and acquisition activity but at this stage there's probably limited upside heading into the weekend,' said Dominic Vaughan, a senior dealer at CMC Markets.
The Kuala Lumpur Composite closed up 0.4 percent at 1,294.15 and the Singapore Straits Times gained 0.3 percent to 3,207.43.
The Philippines Composite closed up 0.6 percent at 2,878.26. The Taiwanese Taiex ended up 1.5 percent to 9,157.18.
But Hang Seng index closed down 0.1 percent at 25,513.71 as investors locked in gains.
The Shanghai Composite dipped 0.6 percent to close at 3,637.32.
In Mumbai, the Sensex provisionally ended 2.25 percent higher at 17,359.71
|
|
|
Send Article by Email
Send Article by IM
Blog This with Y! 360
Printable View
