Asian markets find new record highs
Asian equities markets were up to begin the year. With Tokyo, Bangkok, and Singapore still closed for holidays, the Taipei market found its highest close since August 2000, while Hong Kong, Jakarta, and Sydney all hitting new all-time highs during the Tuesday session.
In Taipei, technology stocks headed higher after the Taiwan government said on Friday that they will let semiconductor manufacturers make more advanced chips in China. The weighted index there added 1.2 percent to 7,920.80 as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing added 0.3 percent to T$67.70 and MediaTek gained 7 percent, the allowable limit in a session, to T$360.50.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong went as high as 20,323.59 in the late afternoon before falling back slightly to 20,310.18 for a 1.7 percent gain on the session. Banks and insurers accounted for some of the advances. Bank of China was up 4.9 percent to HK$4.48, while Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was 5.8 percent higher to HK$5.11. Non-life insurer PICC Property and Casualty gained 12 percent to HK$4.47.
Jakarta’s composite index added 1.7 percent to 1,836.52, setting its third record in three sessions as investors expected that Indonesia’s economy will grow and that interest rates will decline in the new year.
In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 was 0.3 points higher to 5,670.2, a record high close, after going as high as 5,690.7 earlier in the day. Uranium stocks were the big mover, with Energy Resources of Australia up 1.9 percent to A$21.20 and Deep Yellow adding 16.1 percent to A$0.47. The uranium miners were helped by comments from Prime Minister John Howard, who said that regional governments in Australia should end their prohibitions on new uranium mines.
Visited 563 times, 1 so far today
Comments (0)
Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed
There are no comments yet. Why not be the first to speak your mind.