Asian markets rise after Wall Street bounceback (2 p.m.)
BANGKOK — Asian stock markets rose Friday, boosted by a late turnaround on Wall Street and on hopes about government attempts to resuscitate ailing economies.
Markets rebounded after swooning earlier this week on a lack of detail in the Obama administration’s $2 trillion plan to revive the floundering US banking sector. Investors in Asia seemed to take heart after Wall Street clawed back deep losses Thursday on reports the government may subsidize mortgage payments for troubled homeowners.
A surprise jump in US retail sales for January also provided a glimmer of hope about the world’s largest economy though other data painted a less sanguine picture.
In Australia, the main stock index rose 1.3 percent after the government succeeded in pushing a $28 billion economic stimulus package through the Senate following an earlier defeat.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average was up 99.84 points, or 1.3 percent, at 7,805.20, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 235.41, or 1.8 percent, to 13,463.71. Markets in South Korea and Singapore also gained.
China’s markets extended gains of the past two months on hopes that Beijing’s $586 billion economic stimulus package will engineer a quick recovery for the country’s rapidly slowing economy. The Shanghai Composite Index was up 2.1 percent and has gained 20.1 percent since Nov. 28, the last day of trading for that month.
“Asian markets are getting some lift from speculation that mainland China will announce more measures to support the economy and the stock market by the end of the week,” said Peter Lai, an investment manager at DBS Vickers in Hong Kong.
“As usual, there are a lot of rumors but nothing concrete and come Monday we may find there is no announcement,” he said.
Chinese central bank figures released Thursday showed bank lending more than doubled in January to a record 1.62 trillion yuan ($237 billion) as lenders heeded government calls to loosen credit controls to help revive the economy.
In Hong Kong trading, the Chalco unit of Aluminum Corp of China gained 3.6 percent in the wake of the parent company announcing a $19.5 billion deal to enlarge its investment in mining giant Rio Tinto.
The Anglo-Australian miner was down 2.7 percent in Sydney trade.
Pioneer Corp plunged 18.5 percent in Tokyo after Thursday announcing 10,000 job cuts to cope with sinking sales of car audio equipment and flat-screen TVs and forecasting a 130 billion yen ($1.4 billion) net loss for the year ending March.
Other Japanese exporters gained on weakness in the yen. Honda Motor Co. rose 2.9 percent and Panasonic Corp. gained 1.6 percent.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average slipped 6.77, or 0.1 percent, to 7,932.76, after falling by more than 245 points in earlier trading. Broader stock indicators ended higher. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 1.45, or 0.2 percent, to 835.19.
US stock futures were up, suggesting Wall Street would open higher Friday.
In currencies, the dollar was buying 91 yen compared with 90.03 yen late afternoon Thursday in Asia.
Oil rose back above $34 a barrel in Asia after concerns about weakening U.S. consumer demand sent crude to near five-year lows overnight. Light, sweet crude for March delivery rose 60 cents to $34.58 a barrel by midday in Singapore on the New York Mercantile Exchange. (AP)
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