Asia watch

ASIAN investors looked across the valley of recession and fancied they saw green pastures after Cisco Systems came out with a bullish view of the future, and Nasdaq powered ahead by more than 3% overnight.

Chip stocks from Seoul to Singapore and Tokyo to Taiwan surged as investors bet the bottom of the semiconductor cycle was now in sight.

Japanese investors shed their concerns about burgeoning bank debts and chased chip stocks. The Nikkei 225 Average crammed on 261.16 to 10,713.81, encouraged by a clutch of 'buy' recommendations from tech analysts.

In Hong Kong, anything in a tech-related business was moving, and the Hang Seng index galloped up 241.73 points to a three-month high of 11,669.01. The tech-heavy markets of Taiwan and South Korea challenged recent medium-term highs after Cisco chief executive John Chambers said on Tuesday that November orders were up to scratch, and he was optimistic that demand was about to improve.

Top tech performers in Japan rose by up to 4%, led by computer giant Fujitsu, chip maker NEC Corporation and semiconductor equipment supplier Adventest. Investors ignored Ministry of Finance data, which showed the real corporate world was still looking grim. Profits of Japanese companies slumped 33% in the three months to the end of September as sales fell 2.6% and capital spending came to a virtual standstill, up 0.5%. Manufacturing profits were worst hit, and fell more than 52% to their lowest since 1975, the ministry reported.

As ever, Hong Kong-quoted cellphone groups China Mobile and China Unicom played proxy to the Nasdaq gain. Unicom led with a 3% rally, while top mainland computer manufacturer Legend Holdings jumped 5%.

Old-economy stocks were also being snapped up in Hong Kong on hopes that the US economy was ready to rise again. Property counters reacted favourably to the result of a land auction and HSBC Holdings jumped HK$1.75 to HK$95.75 on hopes of a US recovery and the granting of a wider banking licence in Singapore.

Asia's star turn, once again, was Seoul, where the Kospi vaulted 40.72 points to a 15-month high of 690.62, as investors shovelled up semiconductor stocks. Buy signals from UBS Warburg and Goldman Sachs ignited enthusiasm for chipmakers, which were led up by Samsung Electronics, testing 15-month peaks with a 10% gain.

Taiwan scored gains of more than 3%, as the Weighted Average rose 158.13 to 4924.56 a five-month high. Semiconductor stocks carried the market up. Taiwan Semiconductor, the world's largest maker of bespoke chips, led with a 7% advance. Singapore's chipmakers joined in the revelry, with Chartered Semiconductor leader, and the Straits Times index responded with a 46.88-points climb to 1584.91.

Australian stocks benefited from a better-than-expected 1.1% rise in gross domestic product in September and the All Ordinaries put on 23.1 points to 3268.3. Malaysia's technology companies followed regional gains, taking the Kuala Lumpur Composite up by 13.53 points to 661.04. Thai shares were more subdued, and the SET edged up 1.61 to 303.81, while the Jakarta Composite put on 1.57 to 379.13.

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