Nikkei:9,678.71 (+81.97) Hang Seng:22,171.95 (+412.81) Shanghai Comp:2,746.21 (+57.96)
ASIAN STOCKS rose yesterday, with the region’s key index snapping seven straight weeks of declines, amid speculation China may not take further steps to cool its economy and on diminishing concern that Europe’s debt crisis will hurt bank earnings.
All 10 industry groups tracked by the Asia Pacific gauge, advanced, led by financial stocks.
In Hong Kong, Chinese offshore producer Cnooc sank 1 per cent, Aluminum Corp gained 2.9 per cent, Cathay Pacific advanced 5.3 per cent and Air China, the world’s biggest carrier by market capitalisation, jumped 7.8 per cent.
China Airlines, Taiwan’s biggest airline, gained 3.5 per cent.
In Sydney, Qantas rose 1.9 per cent on the prospect of lower fuel prices, miner BHP Billiton was up 0.7 per cent, Commonwealth Bank of Australia added 1.3 per cent and National Australia Bank climbed 0.8 per cent. Woodside Petroleum lost 0.5 per cent and rival Santos dropped 0.8 per cent.
In Tokyo, Mizuho Financial rose 1.6 per cent and Sony gained 2.4 per cent.
Samsung Electronics, which gets more than 20 per cent of its revenue from Europe, rose 2.5 per cent in Seoul. – (Bloomberg)
