AFP
Tokyo
Asian markets yesterday followed a positive lead from Wall Street while the euro retreated as investors kept a cautious eye on Europe, where Greece is struggling to pay its debts.
Tokyo jumped 1.40%, or 274.60 points, to finish at 19,909.09 and Shanghai rallied 1.82%, or 76.55 points, to 4,293.62. Hong Kong surged 2.79%, or 755.56 points, to 27,850.49.
Sydney gained 0.67%, or 39.2 points, to 5,872.3 but Seoul was marginally lower, edging down 1.92 points to 2,144.79.
In other markets, Jakarta closed up 1.11%, or 59.77 points, at 5,460.57; palm oil producer Astra Agro Lestari rose 2.30% to 23,350 rupiah, while Hero Supermarket 5.50% to 1,890 rupiah.
Bangkok rose 0.58%, or 9.03 points, to close at 1,569.35; Siam Commercial Bank gained 3.81% to 177baht, while Siam Cement rose 2.29% to 536baht.
Kuala Lumpur’s main index rose 0.76%, or 14.14 points, close the day at 1,862.80; gaming and resorts company Genting gained 5.38% to 9.2 ringgit, while Petronas Chemicals rose 4.86% to 6.04 ringgit. IOI Corp slipped 1.56% lower, closing on 4.42 ringgit.
Singapore rose 0.15%, or 5.36 points, to close at 3,508.61; property developer Capitaland climbed 0.28% to Sg$3.65 and oil rig maker Keppel Corp gained 1.19% to Sg$9.36.
Taipei fell 0.20%, or 18.87 points, to 9,533.98; Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co was 0.35% lower at Tw$142.5 while Hon Hai Precision Industry dropped 0.75% to Tw$92.1.
Wellington eased 0.12%, or 6.76 points, to 5,817.52; Spark was down 1.72% at NZ$2.85 and Fletcher Building was unchanged at NZ$8.25.
Manila lost 0.23%, or 18.33 points, to end at 7,846.94; BDO Unibank slipped 0.51% to 116.40 pesos but Universal Robina rose 0.92% to 218.60 pesos.
The gains reversed some of the losses suffered on Monday, partly on fears about Greece’s future in the eurozone as Athens tries to secure billions of euros in bailout cash to pay its enormous debts.
With creditors refusing to extend a repayment deadline while also haggling over its bailout reforms, the Greek government has ordered all public agencies to hand over their financial reserves.
“With this act, the government hopes to cover urgent needs of the state amounting to €3bn for the next 15 days,” said a decree, which still needs adoption by the parliament.
The euro fell in foreign exchange markets Tuesday, buying $1.0677 and ¥127.74 against $1.0741 and ¥128.05 on Wall Street.
Hong Kong and Shanghai resumed their upward trend following sharp losses Monday, after China’s stock market regulator tightened rules on trading with borrowed money and increased the supply of shares for short-selling. Confidence was buoyed by Sunday’s cut by the People’s Bank of China in the amount of cash which banks must hold in reserve. The move was aimed at helping kick-start the economy, which grew in January-March at its slowest quarterly pace for six years.
The next indicator on the state of China’s economy comes with HSBC’s preliminary index of manufacturing activity on Thursday.
US traders welcomed China’s move. The Dow jumped 1.17% on Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.92% and the Nasdaq rallied 1.27%.
The dollar edged up despite a key Federal Reserve official suggesting that a US rate rise could be put back.
New York Fed president William C Dudley said recent inflation data was not strong enough to warrant an increase even though economic growth was healthy.
The dollar was at ¥119.64 against ¥119.22, and sharply higher than ¥118.62 in Tokyo earlier Monday.
A man walks past an electric stock quotation board in Tokyo. Japanese stocks closed up 274.60 points to 19,909.09 yesterday.
