Asian stocks posted their biggest weekly gain since August 2007 amid optimism governments worldwide will succeed in reviving lending and global growth.
The MSCI Asia Pacific Index has rallied 21 percent from a five-year low on March 9, technically entering a bull market.
Toyota Motor Corp, which gets 37 percent of its sales from North America, gained 10 percent in Tokyo on optimism the US Treasury’s plan to remove banks’ “toxic” assets will revive economic growth.
BHP Billiton Ltd, the world’s No. 1 mining company, climbed 5.7 percent in Sydney after prices for oil and metals advanced.
MSCI’s Asian benchmark gauge rose 7.5 percent to 85.49 last week, its best weekly performance since the week ended on Aug. 24, 2007.
A measure tracking energy stocks on the MSCI gauge rallied 11 percent this week, the sharpest jump among the 10 industry groups on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 10 percent, its best week since October. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average climbed 8.6 percent while South Korea’s Kospi Index added 5.7 percent.
Governments from the US to Japan are widening measures to ease the financial crisis, which has caused more than US$1 trillion of losses worldwide, and to avert what the World Bank predicts will be the first global economic contraction since World War II.
Toyota jumped 10 percent to ¥3,260 (US$33.31) in Tokyo last week. Sony Corp, which gets a quarter of its sales from the US, surged 13 percent to ¥2,225.
Samsung Electronics Co, the world’s biggest maker of computer memory, rose 7.8 percent to 584,000 won in Seoul.
BHP climbed 5.7 percent to A$34.01 (US$23.56) in Sydney. Cnooc Ltd., China’s biggest offshore oil producer, jumped 11 percent to HK$8.33 (US$1.07) in Hong Kong. Crude oil added 2.6 percent to US$52.38 a barrel in New York last week.
A measure of six primary metals traded in London fell 0.1 percent.
Rio Tinto Group, the world’s third-largest mining company, soared 21 percent to A$56.88. The company said on Thursday that it had an alternative plan should Aluminum Corp of China’s US$19.5 billion investment deal fail.
MSCI’s Asian benchmark gauge rose 13.7 percent this month, which was the biggest monthly gain since October 1998, when governments were cutting interest rates to alleviate the Asian financial crisis.
The gains pared the measure’s drop this year to 4.6 percent and raised the average valuation of companies on the MSCI Asia Pacific Index yesterday to 16.7 times profit, the highest level since December 2007.
TAIPEI
Taiwanese share prices could face resistance in the week ahead after their recent strong showing, amid worries about earnings reports from high-tech firms scheduled for early next month, dealers said.
They said profit-taking could cap any gains, although the financial and industrial sectors could see a bounce from rotational buying.
“It is time for the market to have a correction, which is expected to make it technically healthier for another round of upside,” President Securities analyst Steven Huang said.
For the week to Friday, the weighted index rose 429.09 points or 8.65 percent to 5,390.70. The index gained 1.31 percent the previous week.
Huang said a central bank decision to stop a cycle of interest rate cuts, after seven reductions since September, had boosted investor confidence.
“I do not expect the market will suffer any plunge at a time when there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel in an economic recession,” he said.
Other regional markets
KUALA LUMPUR: Flat. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index lost 0.04 points to 885.43.
Genting fell 2.1 percent to 3.78 ringgit while Sime Darby gained 1.7 percent to 5.90.
JAKARTA: Up 3.01 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index jumped 42.77 points to 1,462.74. The market was closed on Thursday for a national holiday.
MANILA: Up 2.61 percent. The composite index added 51.99 points to 2,040.25.
WELLINGTON: Up 1.42 percent. The benchmark NZX-50 index rose 37.22 points to 2,653.48.
MUMBAI: Up 0.45 percent. The 30-share SENSEX index rose 45.39 points to 10,048.49, its fifth straight day of gains.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
SECURITY: The New Zealand and Australian navies also sailed military vessels through the Strait yesterday to assert the right of freedom of navigation The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force on Wednesday made its first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait in response to the intrusion by a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft into Japan’s sovereign airspace last month, Yomiuri Shimbun reported yesterday. The Japanese news platform reported that the destroyer JS Sazanamisailed down through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday, citing sources in the Japanese government with knowledge of the matter. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi declined to comment on the reports at a regular briefing because they concern military operations. Military vessels from New Zealand and Australia also sailed through the Strait on the same day, Wellington’s defense ministry
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is set to issue sea and land warnings for Tropical Storm Krathon as projections showed that the tropical storm could strengthen into a typhoon as it approaches Taiwan proper, the CWA said yesterday. The sea warning is scheduled to take effect this morning and the land warning this evening, it said. The storm formed yesterday morning and in the evening reached a point 620 nautical miles (1,148km) southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, moving west-southwest at 4 kph as it strengthened, the CWA said. Its radius measured between 220km and 250km, it added. Krathon is projected