Review Asia-Pacific Markets on Thursday

The stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region closed notably higher on Thursday, as traders went bargain hunting amid hopes that growth would return sooner in many non-developed economies. However, a cautious undertone prevailed about the health of the U.S. financial industry. The global economy will probably shrink by 1.3% in 2009, the deepest slump since 1945, the International Monetary Fund predicted.


The Japanese market rallied on bargain hunting after Goldman Sachs upgraded its ratings on key automakers to "attractive" from "cautious." Construction and consumer finance stocks also closed with significant gains, but stocks in the oil and coal, insurance and sea transport sectors ended in the red.

The Nikkei 225 index closed at 8,847, up 120 points or 1.37% and the broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange rose 10 points or 1.15% to 839.

The Australian market also closed sharply higher for the day, led by miners and financials. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 closed at 3,743, up 2% or 75 points and the broader All Ordinaries index rose nearly 69 points or 2% to 3,696.

Miners ended stronger on potential gains expected from a recovery in the Chinese economy. BHP Billiton gained 3.14%, its rival Rio Tinto surged up 6.06% and Iluka Resources added 1.57%.

Banking stocks rallied due to the expiry of option contracts on Thursday. Gold miners also ended stronger as gold traded steady at $891.04 an ounce.

The South Korean market rose modestly for the fourth day in a row as an improved earnings outlook and hopes that government measures will spur demand buoyed sentiment. The benchmark KOSPI rose 13 points or 0.94% to 1,369, rising for the fourth day in a row. Volume was at 736.48 million shares worth 8.74 trillion won (US$6.5 billion) and advancers outnumbered decliners by 420 to 394.

Hyundai Motor posted a smaller-than-expected 43% decline in its first-quarter net profit. Hyundai Motor closed up 3.18%, Kia Motors advanced 5.42% and Ssangyong Motor rallied 5.56%.

Shipbuilders closed mixed. Daewoo Shipbuilding rose 2.53% and Hyundai Heavy gained 3.29%, but Samsung Heavy Industries closed down 0.16%.

Among other notable stocks, market heavyweight Samsung Electronics added 2.96%, Korean Air Lines advanced 1.45%, LG Display LCD moved up 1.79% and LG Electronics closed up 0.91%, while oil stock SK and telecom stock SK Energy Telecom ended flat.

Hynix Semiconductor tumbled 4.80% after leading shareholders of the company agreed to inject 1.3 trillion won in new funding through the issuance of fresh shares and loans for the loss-making chipmaker.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index opened higher and saw some uncertainty in the morning before the index began to climb steadily higher to close up 336.01 points or 2.26% at 15,215. The market witnessed broad based buying interest, with forty of the forty-two index components ending in positive territory.

After trading choppily in early trading, the Indian market saw a sharp comeback on buying across the board in index heavyweights. The benchmark Sensex ended the day at 11,135, up 317.45 points or 2.93% over the previous close.

Among the other markets in the region, China's Shanghai Composite index rose 0.11%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 2.26% and Singapore's STI Straits Times index closed up 0.90%, but Taiwan's TWII Weighed index moved down 0.18%.


Dikutip dari ADVFN Newsdesk for Saham Indonesia