Buoyed by positive economic data from US, most of the Asian equity indices continued their northward journey for yet another day on Wednesday. The US retail sales for February, which rose at their fastest pace in five months, and positive stress tests for 15 of the 19 largest US banks helped push stocks on Wall Street to multiyear closing highs. Meanwhile, Japanese Nikkei average climbed over 1.5 percent to close above 10,000 level for the first time in seven months as Japanese exporters continued to benefit from the yen’s weakness; Toyota Motor advanced 2.3 percent and Sony jumped 4.7 percent. However, Hong Kong pared most of its early gains and was down by 0.15 percent on Wednesday while Shanghai fell 2.63 percent after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao warned of a risk of a property bubble, denting hopes of an easing of tight real estate rules.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2,391.23 | -64.57 | -2.63 |
Hang Seng | 21,307.89 | -31.81 | -0.15 |
Jakarta Composite | 4,054.33 | 45.68 | 1.14 |
KLSE Composite | 1,575.71 | 11.69 | 0.75 |
Nikkei 225 | 10,050.52 | 151.44 | 1.53 |
Straits Times | 3,026.40 | 37.33 | 1.25 |
Seoul Composite | 2,045.08 | 20.04 | 0.99 |
Taiwan Weighted | 8,125.26 | 93.75 | 1.17 |