Asian stocks advanced for the third week as higher retail sales and expanding manufacturing activities in the US boosted confidence in the global economic recovery.
Nintendo Co, the maker of Wii gaming consoles, surged 16 percent after reporting increased US sales. PetroChina Co (中石油), China’s biggest oil producer, gained 8.2 percent after crude oil rallied to its highest-level in 14 months. Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd (和記電訊國際) jumped 32 percent in Hong Kong after its parent offered to buy out the company.
“Demand is on a steady recovery worldwide,” said Yoshinori Nagano, a senior strategist in Tokyo at Daiwa Asset Management Co, which oversees the equivalent of US$94 billion. “The market and economy will be better in 2010.”
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index rose 3.1 percent to 124.22 in the first week of trading for this year. The gauge climbed 34 percent last year, the biggest annual gain since 2003, as central banks cut borrowing costs and governments boosted spending to drag their economies out of recession.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 2.4 percent this week on speculation overseas earnings will climb as the yen weakened to its lowest level against the US dollar since August following comments by Finance Minister Naoto Kan.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.9 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index added 0.9 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 2.5 percent on concern government steps to curb lending growth and property speculation will slow expansion in the world’s third-largest economy.
Optimism for global growth grew this week as the US government reported a 1.1 percent increase in factory orders that was more than twice as much as economists anticipated and Retail Metrics Inc said store sales at US retailers last month climbed 3 percent, the biggest gain since April 2008.
Taiwan’s exports climbed last month at the fastest pace since February 1995, the government said on Thursday.
Nintendo surged 16 percent to ¥25,580. US sales of the motion-sensing Wii gaming console exceeded 3 million last month, the Kyoto-based company said on Jan. 6.
The Shanghai Composite Index completed its first weekly decline in three. China’s move during the week to raise the cost of three-month bills will probably lead to the nation’s first interest-rate increase in almost three years by September, a survey of economists showed.
Taiwan’s TAIEX index rose 43.50, or 0.5 percent, from Thursday to 8,280.90 at the close of Taipei trading on Friday. It added 1.1 percent this week, the third straight week of gains.
Plastic companies rose on higher prices for their raw materials used to make plastics. Formosa Plastics Corp (台塑) gained 0.9 percent to NT$70.60, the highest since June 2008.
The companies may benefit after prices of polyethylene surged 6.7 percent on Thursday owing to a shortage at Saudi Basic Industries Corp, KGI Securities Co (凱基證券) said in a morning note on Friday.
China Steel Corp (中鋼), Taiwan’s largest maker of the metal, gained 2.5 percent to NT$34.85, the highest since Sept. 19, 2008, amid speculation that producers in China and Taiwan may raise prices, said David Li (李衍磐), a trader at Daiwa Securities SMBC-Cathay Co (大和國泰).
‘TOO TIRED’: The former mayor’s political party said that he had been questioned for nearly 19 hours, so he declined to be questioned at night, as he felt exhausted Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was arrested early yesterday morning after being questioned by prosecutors over his alleged role in a corruption scandal concerning the Core Pacific City redevelopment project during his tenure as Taipei mayor. The arrest was made after Ko refused to be questioned at night and attempted to leave the prosecutors’ office, the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Prosecutors were worried that he would collude with others involved in the case to make false statements if they allowed him to leave, so they issued an order to arrest him, the office said. Ko yesterday sought a court
ECONOMIC RESILIENCE: Only 11.4 percent of Taiwan’s overseas investments last year were in China, and businesses are dispersing their investments elsewhere, Lai said China’s ambition to annex Taiwan is based on a desire to change the rules-based international order, rather than a desire for territorial gains, President William Lai (賴清德) said in an interview. During an appearance on the talk show The View With Catherine Chang, aired last night, Lai said China aimed to achieve hegemony, and that peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait was an issue of worldwide concern. During the interview, Lai also discussed his “four-pillar plan” for peace and prosperity, which he first outlined in an article published by the Wall Street Journal on July 4 last year. That
‘GLOBAL THREAT’: MOFA said that it welcomes the ‘staunch US support’ and that ‘China again made spurious claims about Taiwan that do not accord with reality’ US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stressed the importance of stability in the Taiwan Strait, while a senior Chinese military official warned the US to stop “collusion” with Taiwan in a rare one-on-one meeting yesterday, both sides said. Sullivan arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, the first US national security adviser to visit China since 2016, for three days of talks with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) and other high-ranking officials. Yesterday morning, Sullivan met with Zhang Youxia (張又俠), vice chairman of the Central Military Commission and China’s second-highest-ranking military official, at the Beijing headquarters of the commission.
GRAFT PROBE: Critics questioned Ko claiming he did not know about the Core Pacific floor area ratio issue until this year, citing a 2021 video in which he was asked about it Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released without bail early yesterday, while his deputy during his tenure as Taipei mayor was detained and held incommunicado after being questioned since Friday over graft allegations related to a shopping center redevelopment project. Prosecutors on Saturday filed a request with the Taipei District Court to officially detain Ko and former Taipei deputy mayor Pong Cheng-sheng (彭振聲) over allegations surrounding the redevelopment of Core Pacific City, also known as Living Mall (京華城購物中心). The court yesterday determined that the evidence provided by prosecutors was insufficient to justify the detention of Ko and ordered his