Asian stocks rise on rescue plan
Asian stocks on Monday posted heavy gains after a week of big losses, with Hong Kong up more than 10 percent, as dealers reacted to a pledge by world leaders to help the battered global economy.
Markets suffered their worst falls in more than 20 years last week, with some indexes losing up to a quarter of their value as dealers ignored worldwide interest rate cuts and central banks ploughing billions of dollars into the system.
However, after a weekend of talks between the world's richest nations leaders agreed to take decisive action to put an end to the global turmoil.
That was followed by eurozone countries on Monday pledging to shore up the banking system with massive injections of cash similar to a plan unveiled last week by Britain.
Hong Kong, which shed 16 percent last week, rallied Monday to close 10.2 percent higher on confidence that a European plan to inject billions of dollars into troubled banks could work.
Singapore was also up more than six percent, while Seoul was up 3.8 percent and Shanghai gained 3.65 percent. However, Taipei was off more than two percent and New Zealand lost 0.82 percent after a rollercoaster day.
Asia's biggest market Tokyo, which was hammered last week, was closed for a public holiday.
Other big gainers were Mumbai, which gained 7.64 percent, and Bangkok, which added more than five percent. Manila gained one percent, Jakarta rose 0.7 percent in its first day since the market was suspended last Wednesday and Kuala Lumpur rose 1.8 percent.
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