| HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Asian stocks started the week on an upbeat note Monday, with Japan's market leading the region higher as investors pushed up shares of Japan Airlines Corp, Sony Corp. and other blue-chip issues following another new high on Wall Street. |
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 Index was up 1% in afternoon trading to 17,228.86 while the broader Topix index rose 1% to 1,701.84. |
Indonesia's JSX Composite index advanced 2.1% and China's Shanghai Composite rose 1.6%. |
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar was quoted at 120.24 yen in Tokyo, compared to 120.25 yen late Friday in New York and 120.47 yen during Tokyo's previous late session. |
Japanese machinery orders rose a seasonally adjusted 3.8% in November from the previous month, gaining for the second month in a row, government data showed Monday. Economists had expected a 3.3% gain. The data, which excludes government, shipping and utilities-related machinery orders, is considered a leading indicator of corporate capital spending six to nine months ahead. |
Around the region, South Korea's Kospi index nudged 0.03% higher and Malaysia's KLSE Composite climbed 0.7%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.3% and New Zealand's NZSX-50 rose 0.5%. Taiwan's leading share index rose 0.2% and Thailand's benchmark SET Index rose 0.8%. Read business news in Chinese. |
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 1.3% to 19,876.32. The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, Hong Kong's benchmark for China shares, was up 1.5% to 9,820.63. |
Asia's gains come on the heels of another batch of upbeat market headlines from the United States. On Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average [$INDU] closed up 41 points to 12,556, a record. The S&P 500 Index [$SPX] rose almost 7 points to 1,430, a five-year high. |
"The whole region seems to be doing much better," said Miles Remington, head of sales trading at BNP Paribas in Hong Kong. "I think people now are looking at the U.S. economy and thinking perhaps there is that soft landing approach rather than hard landing some people have been talking about on the housing side." |
In Tokyo, shares of Japan Airlines jumped 3.8% after the carrier said over the weekend it plans to request up to 60 billion yen ($500 million) from Japanese financial institutions this fiscal year to cover the upcoming redemption of convertible bonds. |
Electronic and entertainment conglomerate Sony [SNE] rose 3.1% while microchip-equipment maker Kyocera Corp [KYO] added 1%. |
Among the auto sector, shares Honda Motor Corp. [HMC] gained 2% after a Nikkei report the firm plans to spend up to $200 million dollars to establish a second automobile plant in India by early 2009. The new facility will have an annual production capacity of 50,000 units, adding to the 100,000 unit capacity Honda should have in place by the end of the year. Toyota Motor Corp. [TM] , Japan's largest carmaker, rose 1.2%. |
Japanese banking shares were mostly higher on speculation the Bank of Japan will raise borrowing rates at the conclusion of its two-day policy board meeting, which gets underway Wednesday. Shares of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. [MTU] , Japan's largest lender by assets, rose 1.3%. Mizuho Financial Group , the No. 2 lender, rose 1.5%. |
Shares of Hong Kong-listed PetroChina [PTR] , China's largest integrated oil firm by capacity, rose 2.4%. The company said it produced 5.2% more crude oil and natural gas last year than in 2005. |
Japanese oil and gas producer Inpex Holdings rose 0.8% and Australian-listed Woodside Petroleum [WOPEY] [WPL] rose 1.6%. |
Oil prices rose 31 cents to $53.30 a barrel in electronic trading in Asia. On the New York Mercantile Exchange Friday, crude for February delivery closed up $1.11 at $52.99 a barrel. |
Front-month gold futures rose 20 cents to $626.70 an ounce. In NYMEX trading Friday, the February gold contract gained $13 to close at $626.90 an ounce. |
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