Asia Watch

By RAY HEATH
Updated:

 

Technology stocks drove Asia's markets sharply higher on the back of another good performance from Nasdaq and better than expected earnings reports from IBM and Microsoft.

Even dotcom plays started to lose last year's pariah status, as results from e-Bay showed that money could still be made on the web.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Average came back on to the high side of 14,000 for the first time since Christmas, before slipping back to 13989.12, a rise of 115.20 points. Leading stocks included chip-maker NEC and Softbank, the internet investment group which crashed to earth last year but has pulled back by 63% in five days.

The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong looked poised to break through 16,000 for the first time since October as buyers jumped into technology and telecommunications stocks. The index vaulted 404.80 points to 15933.55. Investors were oblivious to warnings from HSBC analysts that slowing local and Chinese exports would hit GDP growth and reduce earnings later this year.

The rally was led for the second day by the recently-devastated Pacific Century Cyberworks, the territory's main telecommunications network provider and a big investor in internet projects. PCCW stock rose almost 9% following reports from Britain that Cable & Wireless will not dump a 7% stake in the Hong Kong company next month at recent rock-bottom prices.

The prospect that IBM's solid earnings will mean full order books for South Korea's chipmakers saw Seoul stocks sharply ahead. The Kospi climbed 15.73 points to 619.78, propelled by heavy foreign buying.

An overnight jump of 7% in the Philadelphia Semiconductor index generated more buying of Samsung Electronics, the world's biggest chip producer, which jumped more than 5%, while smaller rival Hyundai Electronics gained more than 7%.

Taiwan's markets were closed ahead of the long Chinese New Year holiday.

Singapore's market broke free of the old-economy stocks that had been holding it back, and technology counters took up the running once more. Optimism continued to be fuelled by the impact of IBM's performance on Nasdaq, and the Straits Times index ended a two-day slide with a 19.30-point gain to 1906.89.

Warnings that Thailand's post-election rally had been overdone were ignored in Bangkok as local buyers chased banks and other financial stocks. The SET index added 2.60 points to 316.86.

Buyers moved in for Malaysian chipmakers, which led the Kuala Lumpur Composite index up 10.58 points to 694.50.

Indonesia provided the only red marks on the screens as calls continued for the resignation of President Wahid. The Jakarta Composite slipped 4.79 points to 411.56.

Australian investors were focusing on interest rates rather than technology stocks. Analysts in Sydney continue to argue that the US economy is slowing and the inevitable slicing of rates by the Fed will be good for Australia's economy and stocks. The All Ordinaries rose 22 points to 3254.5.

• Prices and indices in this report are from various sources and calculated at different times and may not always match those listed elsewhere on the site.

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