A round-up of Asia-Pacific markets

AN unprecedented international appointment at Singapore Telecommunications was given a cautious thumbs up by the markets today as its shares rose 0.67% to S$1.51.

Reflecting its regional ambitions, SingTel announced that Chumpol Na Lamlieng will replace Ang Kong Hua as chairman next month.

Chumpol, president of Siam Cement, Thailand's largest industrial conglomerate, will be the first non-Singaporean to head the company. He has little experience in telecommunications, but says that as he has been on the SingTel board for more than a year he knows the management well.

Ang, 58, leaves the job after only two years amid criticism from some analysts that his trade in shares of rival mobile operator MobileOne was inappropriate.

Elsewhere, Singapore shares were up in line with regional gains. The benchmark Straits Times index rose 1.23% or 18.23 points to 1504.45. Buying focused on Singapore Press Holdings, up 1.08% at S$18.70, Venture Corporation, up 2.41% at S$17.00, and Keppel Land, up 2.24% at S$1.37.

In JapanTokyo's Nikkei 225 continued its climb towards 10,000, closing 247.43 points or 2.6% up at 9795.16, as tech stocks performed strongly. NEC rose 7.55% to 798 yen, Sharp, Japan's biggest liquid crystal display maker, was up 3.16% at 1695 yen on the announcement of a deal with Texas Instruments.

Ricoh was boosted by reports that it would spend seven billion yen to boost mobile phone wafer capacity by 18%. Its shares rose 2.69% to 2,100 yen. Tokyo Electron also benefited, its shares jumping 4.96% to 6,560 yen.

In Hong Kong, shares remained flat as investors digested chief executive Tung Chee-Hwa's U-turn on the Article 23 security Bill. The Hang Seng index edged up 0.58% or 55.82 points to 9692.63.

The Hong Kong shares of China Southern Airlines found some support after it released the pricing of its domestic A-share listing in Shanghai. Its shares were up slightly at HK$2.15.

China's top carrier said it would issue one billion A-shares from 10 July to raise a lower-than-expected 2.7bn yuan (£196m) to buy new aircraft.

Meanwhile, news that the Chinese government had cleared Bank of China officials of wrongdoing in their dealings with disgraced tycoon Zhou Zhengyi had no effect on BoC Hong Kong shares, which were unchanged at HK$7.85.

Stocks in Taiwan extended a near one-year high, buoyed by reports the $3bn (£1.8bn) cap on foreign equity investment could be lifted.

The Taiwan Weighted index, up 2.93% or 150.83 points at 5302.68, extended a rally of nearly 30% since late April. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, which goes ex-dividend today, rose 3.51% to T$59.0 on its sound second-half outlook.

Stocks in Australia lagged behind the region, although the All Ordinaries closed 4.6 points or 0.15% up at 3005.4.

Dominating the news in Sydney was the announcement that Centro Properties Group has agreed to buy unlisted MCS Property for A$193.5m (£78.6m), in a deal that will make it Australia's second-largest manager of shopping mall space, challenging Westfield's pre-eminence. Centro shares fell 0.25% to A$4.04 while Westfield remained virtually unchanged at A$14.27.