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WORLD> Asia-Pacific
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Most Asian markets advance; SKorea up on bank plan
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-20 14:39 HONG KONG -- Most Asian stock markets advanced Monday, with South Korean shares gaining for the first time in four days as the government moved to shore up the country's banking system amid the global credit crisis.
Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average rose 1.1 percent to 8,941.50, and the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong surged 4.3 percent to 15,185.91. In South Korea, the Kospi climbed more than 2 percent after the government said it would provide up to US$100 billion to secure banks' maturing foreign currency for three years. The country's stock market and currency have spiraled lower in recent days as analysts questioned the ability of South Korean banks to acquire dollars to refinance loans. The Chinese mainland shares, meanwhile, trended downward, hurt by new government figures showing the country's economic growth eased to 9 in the third quarter of this year. The reading, while still robust, fed into anxiety that deteriorating financial and economic conditions around the world were damaging Asian growth, and China's leaders pledged new measures to rev up the economy and cushion the blow from world credit problems. Shanghai's benchmark index fell more than 0.7 percent. "There was always this hope that China would pick up the slack for the US, but if China is seeing a slowdown, that could bash those hopes," said Singapore-based investment analyst Nicole Sze of Bank Julius Baer & Co, which manages about US$300 billion in assets. In Tokyo, shares rose amid hopes for better-than-expected corporate earnings. Panasonic Corp. jumped 6.6 percent after the Nikkei business daily reported over the weekend that, helped by strong TV sales, the electronics giant would beat its interim operating profit forecast by more than 20 billion yen (US$197.3 million). South Korean financials were mostly higher. Shinhan Financial Group Ltd. gained around 5.6 percent, and KB Financial Group Inc., the holding company for top South Korean lender Kookmin Bank, added almost 4 percent. Elsewhere, resource shares helped lift Australia's benchmark more than 4 percent. New Zealand and Singapore also gained, while Taiwan shares lost ground. The general upswing defied Friday's mixed performance on Wall Street, where the Dow fell 127.04, or 1.41 percent to 8,852.22, as investors balanced an easing in credit markets with more bearish news about the housing market. As US investors awaited a slew of earnings and economic reports this week, stock index futures on Sunday signaled a slightly higher open. In oil, light, sweet crude for November delivery rose US$1.94 to US$73.79 in Asian trade on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained US$2 in Friday trade. The dollar traded at 102.73, up about 0.46, and the euro gained to 1.3485. |
