Asian markets mostly up
Asian shares were mostly higher Wednesday, led by a surge in Tokyo, as dealers looked ahead to the G20 summit where world leaders will seek to establish a way out of the global downturn.
TOKYO: Up 2.99 percent. The Nikkei-225 index gained 242.38 points to 8,351.91.
HONG KONG: Down 0.42 percent. The Hang Seng Index closed down 56.48 points at 13,519.54.
The index swung in and out of negative territory with investors looking in vain for direction, dealers said.
China Construction Bank fell 2.5 percent to 4.29 dollars and ICBC dropped 1.5 percent to 3.97 dollars.
BOC Hong Kong jumped 9.7 percent to 8.70 dollars.
SYDNEY: Flat. The S&P/ASX 200 edged down 2.4 points, or 0.07 percent, to 3,579.7.
SHANGHAI: Up 1.47 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index, which covers A and B shares, closed up 34.8 points at 2,408.02.
TAIPEI: Up 1.99 percent. The weighted index gained 103.61 points to 5,314.45.
Analysts said the market was boosted by the continued rise in dynamic random access memory (DRAM) chip prices after the world's major memory makers slashed output.
SEOUL: Up 2.25 percent. The KOSPI ended up 27.10 points at 1,233.36.
"The country's better-than-expected February industrial output data helped investors regain confidence that the local economy could recover in the second half of this year," So Jang-Ho, a Samsung Securities analyst, said.
SINGAPORE: Up 0.13 percent. The STI rose 2.27 points to 1,702.26.
Singapore Airlines advanced 24 cents to 10.24.
KUALA LUMPUR: Up 1.33 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index gained 11.63 points to close at 884.18.
Banking group Maybank rose 5.2 percent at 4.06 ringgit while Malaysia Airlines fell 4.9 percent at 2.73 ringgit.
BANGKOK: Down 0.33 percent. The SET fell 1.41 points to 430.09.
JAKARTA: Up 1.93 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index gained 27.67 points to 1,461.74.
MANILA: Down 0.95 percent. The composite index lost 18.94 points to 1,967.28.
MUMBAI: Up 1.99 percent. The 30-share Sensex index rose 193.49 points to 9,901.99, its second straight day of gains.
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