Asian markets ended mostly in green on Thursday as record highs on Wall Street amid fresh signs of resilience in the US economy and continued hopes that central banks in China and Europe will unveil further stimulus encouraged investors to buy riskier assets. Chinese shares soared to hit a three-year high, as investors piled up shares of financials, oil and brokerage companies on bets the People's Bank of China will follow up on last month's rate cut with further interest rate cuts and reduction in banks' reserve requirement ratios. Japanese shares extended gains for a fifth straight session as persistent weakness in yen lifted exporter shares.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2,899.46 | 119.93 | 4.31 |
Hang Seng | 23,832.56 | 403.94 | 1.72 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,177.16 | 11.12 | 0.22 |
KLSE Composite | 1,745.69 | -12.46 | -0.71 |
Nikkei 225 | 17,887.21 | 166.78 | 0.94 |
Straits Times | 3,304.82 | 1.43 | 0.04 |
KOSPI Composite | 1,986.61 | 16.70 | 0.85 |
Taiwan Weighted | 9,225.11 | 49.85 | 0.54 |