Asian stocks had their biggest weekly gain this year after US retail-sales rose and the IMF increased its forecast for global economic growth.
Sony Corp, an electronics maker that gets more than a fifth of its sales in the US, jumped 5.8 percent this week in Tokyo. Jiangxi Copper Co (江西銅業), China’s biggest producer of the metal, gained 8.6 percent in Shanghai after copper prices climbed. Santos Ltd surged 15 percent in Sydney after newspapers said Royal Dutch Shell PLC may buy a stake in Australia’s third-largest oil and gas producer.
The MSCI Asia-Pacific Index rose 4 percent this week. It has fallen 3.6 percent this year on concern Europe’s debt crisis and China’s measures to curb inflation will slow global growth.
“I doubt we’ll have another global recession,” said Masayuki Kubota, a fund manager at Tokyo-based Daiwa SB Investments Ltd, which oversees about US$51 billion in assets. “People are very sensitive to economic data from the US If something good comes out, market sentiment easily rebounds. I’m buying sectors which were sold on excessive pessimism.”
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 4.1 percent this week, as a weaker yen buoyed the profit outlook for exporters.
Taiwan’s TAIEX index jumped 4.3 percent, the most among major benchmark indexes in the Asia-Pacific region. The TAIEX closed up 0.50 percent on Friday on follow-through buying after an overnight rally on Wall Street, dealers said.
The weighted index rose 38.40 points to 7,647.25, after moving between 7,599.84 and 7,652.55, on turnover of NT$102.08 billion (US$3.18 billion).
HTC Corp (宏達電), the maker of Google Inc’s Nexus One mobile phone, soared 19 percent in Taipei after reporting higher profit and getting rating upgrades. HTC jumped 19 percent to NT$526 in Taipei after reporting second-quarter profit that beat estimates as demand for Google’s Android phones drove sales to a record. Citigroup Inc boosted the stock to “buy” from “sell.”
Allan Lin, an analyst with Concord Securities (康和證券), said that despite Wall Street’s three-digit overnight rise, the local bourse moved in a narrow range with small-and medium-cap stocks turning active.
Other markets on Friday:
Manila closed 0.10 percent lower, pulled down by last-minute profit-taking. The composite index fell 3.60 points from Thursday to 3,394.56 points.
Wellington closed 0.71 percent higher, although trading was light. The benchmark NZX-50 index gained 21.32 points from Thursday to 3,005.25.
Mumbai closed up 1.03 percent as European markets firmed on positive US economic data. The benchmark 30-share SENSEX index closed up 181.81 points from Thursday at 17,833.54.
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TECHNICAL LEAD: The US needs to boost its missile technology and build a communications network able to withstand hackers, Admiral Samuel Paparo said US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said the US is confident it could defeat China in the Pacific, but that technical advantage is shrinking, the Washington Post reported yesterday. Speaking at the Reagan Defense Forum on Saturday, Paparo said the US needs to maintain its technical lead over China by enhancing missile technology and building a communications network able to withstand hackers, the paper reported. Although the US is able to hit long-distance and difficult targets with its advanced cruise missile system, each launch costs more than US$1 million, he said. By contrast, drones, which are relatively cheap to build and develop, can
‘LAGGING BEHIND’: The NATO secretary-general called on democratic allies to be ‘clear-eyed’ about Beijing’s military buildup, urging them to boost military spending NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte mentioning China’s bullying of Taiwan and its ambition to reshape the global order has significance during a time when authoritarian states are continuously increasing their aggression, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. In a speech at the Carnegie Europe think tank in Brussels on Thursday, Rutte said Beijing is bullying Taiwan and would start to “nibble” at Taiwan if Russia benefits from a post-invasion peace deal with Ukraine. He called on democratic allies to boost defense investments and also urged NATO members to increase defense spending in the face of growing military threats from Russia
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