MUMBAI (Thomson Financial) -
(Updating to add closing levels throughout)
Asian stocks rose Monday with Taiwan leading the advance with a 4 percent rally
following the landslide presidential election victory for the opposition
Kuomintang's Ma Ying-jeou at the weekend.
Ma has vowed to increase trade and business ties with China and revitalise
domestic demand.
The weighted index closed 3.99 percent higher at 8,865.35.
"Goldman Sachs said the opposition victory should be good for stocks," given
their more market-friendly stance on cross-strait policies, and a lower
likelihood of an escalation in cross-strait tensions going forward.
"Over the longer term, we believe the possible breakthroughs in
cross-straits policies could lift potential growth via productivity gains and
investments," said analyst Enoch Fung.
Fung is forecasting Taiwanese GDP growth of 3.8 percent for 2008, followed
by 4.6 percent in 2009.
Other markets posted more modest gains. The blue-chip Nikkei 225 Stock ended
down 2.48 points at 12,480.09.
The broader Topix index rose 0.3 percent to 1,224.15.
Before the opening bell, the government announced that sentiment among large
Japanese companies deteriorated in the first quarter, reflecting growing concern
about profits amid higher procurement costs and increased uncertainty about
demand at home and abroad.
"While weak business sentiment dampened the market, investors were relieved
that concern [about the US economy] is less pessimistic than before," said
Hiroichi Nishi, equity chief at Nikko Cordial Securities.
Elsewhere, the Singapore Straits Times closed up 3.6 percent at 2,927.79,
with gains fueled by a retreat in commodity prices. New York's benchmark oil
futures contract fell 1.41 dollars to 100.43 dollars per barrel in early Asian
trading, while gold was flat at 912 dollars an ounce.
The South Korean Kospi index closed 0.6 percent higher at 1,655.30 and the
Malaysian KLSE Composite closed 1 percent higher at 1,201.02.
The 30-company Philippine composite index closed 1.8 percent higher to close
at 2,867.50 as bargain hunters stepped in, but trading was light as worries
about the US economy continued to hound investors returning from a four-day
Easter break.
The Indonesian composite index was closed 0.7 percent higher at 2,339.29
lifted by a technical rebound in late trade in select big caps led by index
heavyweight Telkom, coal producer Bumi Resources and Bank Mandiri.
But the Shanghai Composite bucked the trend and closed 4.49 percent lower at
3,626.19 as investors locked in recent gains.
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