Asia-Pacific markets gain; Karachi declines

With the exception of Pakistan’s markets, equities markets in Asia and the Pacific were all higher Wednesday. In Pakistan, the Karachi 100 dropped 2.24 percent to 13,315.58 as foreign investors pulled their money out of financial markets on concerns over the political crisis there. Elsewhere, the Sydney Ordinaries added 1.2 percent to 6,650 while the S&P/ASX200 gained 1.28 percent to 6,598.6. The Straits Times index was up 1.42 percent to 3,524.9 in Singapore.

South Korea’s Kospi index was 2.05 percent higher to 1,972.58 while in Taiwan the Taiex added 2.47 percent to 8,942.93. At least three indices jumped more than 4 percent on the session. India’s Sensex advanced by 4.69 percent to 19,929.06, a gain of 893.58 points, while the Hang Seng was up 1,362.66 points, or 4.9 percent to 29,166.01. The Shanghai Composite gained 4.94 percent to 5,412.69. Tokyo’s markets were higher as well. The Nikkei 225 was up 2.47 percent to 15,499.56 while the Topix index added 2.95 percent to 1,497.71 and the Mothers market jumped 3.95 percent to 862.79.

Most European equities markets were higher on the session, but the IBEX dropped 0.04 percent to 15,808.9. The pan-European FTSE Eurofirst 300 added 0.4 percent to 1,522.17, while Frankfurt’s Dax was up 0.07 percent to 7,783.11 and the Paris CAC-40 gained 1.35 percent to 5,613.6. In London, the FTSE 100 added 1.1 percent to 6,432.1 while the FTSE 250 gained 1.38 percent to 11,070.9.

Wall Street closed lower on mixed signals concerning the subprime crisis. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.57 percent lower to 13,231.01 while the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.1 percent to 2,644.32 and the S&P 500 dropped 0.71 percent to 1,470.58.

Crude oil and precious metals prices were higher, while base metals were mostly higher. Grains prices also gained on the session.

The yen, sterling and the US dollar all weakened in relation to the euro.

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