11 Apr 2008 | 14:32
Asian markets rebound ahead of weekend
Asian markets were mostly higher, with Japanese indexes gaining after an advance on Wall Street, while Hong Kong stocks were lifted by strong corporate earnings forecasts by Chinese banks.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 Average jumped 2.9% to 13,323.73, while the broader Topix index advanced 2.5% to 1,278. 26.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 2% to 24,667.79, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index climbed 2.8% to 13,357.12.
China's Shanghai Composite advanced 0.6% to 3,492.89 and Taiwan's weighted index climbed 0.9% to 8,909.58.
Sydney listed shares took losses into a fourth straight day, as stocks of gaming firms TAB Corp Holdings and Tatts Group plummeted after the Victoria state government said their duopoly over gaming machines will end in 2012. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 ended the day on marginally negative note with down 0.1% at 5,439.30.
South Korea's Kospi rose 0.9% to 1,779.71 while New Zealand's NZX 50 index lost 1.5% to 3,488.84.
In afternoon trading, the Singapore's Straits Times Index added 1.5% at 3,110.06 while India's Sensex rose up by 1.1% to 15,874.68.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar bought 101.95 yen, compared with 100.60 yen in Asia and 101.84 yen in New York late Thursday.
Light crude oil futures for May delivery slipped as much as 38 cents to $109.73 a barrel in electronic trading, after dropping 76 cents to settle at $110.11 a barrel Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange
European shares regained a bit of poise as the chemical and auto stocks some of the strongest performers ahead of a key earnings report from industrial bellwether General Electric. In the opening trade, the U.K. FTSE 100 index gained 0.6% to 5,999.60, the German DAX 30 index rose 0.7% to 6,748.67 and the French CAC-40 index increased by 0.8% to 4,896.38.
Meanwhile Germany's wholesale prices rose 1.6 % in March from February and increased 7.1 % from a year earlier.
According to the Federal Statistics Office Germany's wholesale price index stood at 122.2 in March, compared with 120.3 in February and 114.1 in March 2007
The day ahead is we feature OECDs Euro zone Leading Indicator Index. However the focus will be on G7 Meeting, which is scheduled to start today. In the late evening we have Import price index and Reuters/Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index from US.
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