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Asian market highlights

TOKYO: The Tokyo stock market's benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed above the key 22,000 level on Monday for the first time since February 1992.

The index closed up 240.05 points, or 1.10 percent, at 22,123.89. The previous close above 22,000 points was 22,107.12 on February 7, 1992.

It was the highest closing since 22,139.59 on February 3, 1992 and the highest intra-day level since 22,373.08 on February 7 that year.

"The market is set to rise further over the next few days," said Martin Pankau, a salesman at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell.

HONG KONG: A technical rebound and some futures-led buying helped Hong Kong stocks end a sleepy session with a solid gain.

The Hang Seng index finished up 91 points, or 0.85 percent, at nearly 10,910. But that was 79 points off the session high.

"It looked to be quite positive most of the day," said Miles Remington at Crosby Securities. "We've seen futures suddenly move up a little bit."

The most active April Hang Seng index futures contract, which held a narrow premium to cash throughout the session, ended with a 120-point gain on turnover of 15,163 contracts.

BANGKOK: Thai stocks slumped 1.76 percent on moderate trade on poor market sentiment amid investor concerns that earnings by major banks during the first quarter may be below expectations, brokers said.

The SET index fell 23.16 points to 1,295.22 on 4.8 billion baht turnover. Decliners trounced gainers 268 to 65 while 92 issues were unchanged.

"There was no positive news today," said Lan Pajasalmi of First Asia Securities, adding that investor concens over banks arose after the first quarter results of Thai Farmers Bank, announced last week, were below expectations.

BOMBAY: Blue chips on the Bombay bourse ran out of steam, with the benchmark index closing 32.60 points lower at 3705.26, traders said.

They said speculators had driven the index sharply higher at the opening.

"The 3800 level in early session was basically a result of operators trying to prop up the market and lure foreign funds to buying at higher levels," said a trader at a foreign brokerage.

BSE's 30-share index briefly pierced the 3800 barrier to touch 3809.49 in early trade.

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka stocks closed lower as overall caution and a lack of sellers kept most investors on the sidelines, brokers said.

The Colombo Stock Exchange all share index closed 3.17 points down at 654.73, on turnover of 7.97 million rupees. "The northern operation has sent investors to the sidelines," said a broker. "They are not waiting to sell if a bomb went off in Colombo, but to buy if such a thing happened." The military launched an operation to capture more land from northern Tamil Separatist rebels on Friday. The rebels have warned that such an operation would result in attacks in Colombo.

JAKARTA: Jakarta shares ended at a 1996 high of 628.39 points on the back of sustained local buying in speculative counters, brokers said.

The composite index rose 3.85 points, or 0.62 percent.

Gainers matched losers 51 to 51 with 54 issues unchanged.

"Trading was lively. Local players remained dominant and set the overall direction," one foreign broker said.

Brokers said market talk of acquisitions drove the market up and down and managed to inject fresh momentum despite a slowdown in foreign investor activity.

KUALA LUMPUR: Kuala Lumpur stock prices ended on the plus side, but the moderate gains marked a waning of the recent hectic buying pace.

"At this stage, perhaps the buy signal is not so compelling," said one dealer. "The Malaysian market is by no means that cheap." After a morning in the doldrums, the key Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Composite Index ended up 2.03 points or 0.17 percent to 1,174.23.

MANILA: Philippine share prices settled higher as investors concentrated on select secondliners which were expected to post higher earnings in the first quarter of the year, brokers said.

The key index rose 15.88 points, or 0.54 percent, to close at 2,973.87 after generally listless trading. Volume turnover was heavy at 6.098 billion shares worth 2.547 billion pesos.

"The buying was still focused on secondliners ... As for the blue chips, investors were adopting a wait-and-see attitude until their results come out," Angel Escalona of Citibank Securities said.

SEOUL: Stocks closed at a new yearly high as blue chips, especially telecommunications shares, recovered from Saturday's correction, brokers said.

The composite index ended at a provisional 950.60, up 8.91 points or 0.95 percent. The previous closing high was last Friday's 948.37.

"Individual investors were very aggressive. They seemed to be boosted by ample liquidity and rising customer deposits with brokerage houses," said Lee Dong-kyu of Coryo Securities.

SHANGHAI: Shanghai's B share index ended down, with capital being diverted to Heilongjiang Electric Power, which made its debut today, brokers said.

The index fell 0.599 points or 1.20 percent to 49.308 on volume of 12.0 million shares worth $3.1 million. Of 37 B shares, 32 traded, with six up, nine flat and 17 down.

"The market still lacks fresh capital inflows," said one broker.

Shanghai's A share index reversed its morning's gains on institutional profit-taking selling late in the session, led by Zhangjiang High Technology Development Zone, brokers said.

The index fell 4.186 points or 0.65 percent to 637.414 points on volume of 519.2 million shares worth 3.5 billion yuan, the highest volume this year.

SHENZHEN: Shenzhen-listed A share counters continued to rise in heavy trade on Monday, brokers said.

The day's advance was linked to expectations the People's Bank of China may lower interest rates mid-year, brokers said.

Many Shenzhen-listed firms have blamed poor 1995 earnings on Beijing's tight credit policies. The A share index gained 2.09 points to close at 134.75 as turnover expanded to 1.74 billion yuan from 1.66 billion yuan Friday.

Shenzhen's B share index inched ahead 0.20 of a point to end at 60.83 on turnover of HK$7.54 million, compared with HK$8.37 million the previous session.

SINGAPORE: Singapore shares closed with a whimper, overshadowed by Malaysian shares traded over the counter.

A late loss in index-linked Keppel Corp pushed the 30-share Straits Times Industrials Index well into negative territory, after hovering around 2,400 for most of the day. It closed down 20.37 points to end at 2,378.96.

SYDNEY: The Australian share market ended slightly firmer after the market lost most of its early gains due to selling of bellwether issues, BHP and National Australia Bank, late in the session.

The key market barometer, the All Ordinaries index, closed up 1.6 points or 0.07 percent at 2,267.4, down from the day's high of 2,276.3.

The June share price index ended seven points firmer at 2,296 and at a 28.6 point premium to the underlying index.

Brokers said the market made a reasonably positive start to the week, responding favourably to stronger metal prices and anticipating healthy March CPI data on Tuesday.

TAIPEI: Taiwan share prices closed sharply higher on reports of possible plans by foreign funds to issue warrants on steel and China-concept shares, brokers said.

The index ended 125.33 points, or 2.11 percent, up at 6,052.85, off a 6,058.00 high. Turnover was a heavy T$67.69 billion (US$2.46 billion).

"Several securities newspapers...said some foreign funds are planning to issue warrants on Taiwan's steel and China-concept shares," said Eric Liu of National Securities.

WELLINGTON: The New Zealand share market ended slightly weaker.

The NZSE-40 Capital Index fell 5.16 points or 0.24 percent to 2,142.30 on turnover worth NZ$54.2 million (US$37.1 million).-Reuter