Asia watch

ASIAN markets soared on the back of surprisingly strong October retail sales in the US.

While some sceptics looked for flaws in the 7.1% sales climb, most investors preferred to view the figures as an indication that the US economy was turning around. Evidence that suicidal price-cutting among car makers in America had taken auto sales up an unrealistic 26% was offset by the underlying 1% gain in general sales.

Asian computer makers were lifted by optimistic forecasts from US giant Hewlett-Packard which offset the 89% dive in its fourth-quarter earnings. Japanese exporters, led by Sony and big computer makers such as Fujitsu, roared ahead, and the Nikkei 225 Average bounded 403.13 to 10,489.89. The euphoria was tempered in Tokyo by continuing concerns over the outlook for banks, and market leader Mizuho fell more than 2% to a record low in midmorning trade.

Hong Kong's traders and exporters added up to 8% to their market value and the Hang Seng index broke through the 11,000 level to close up 289.3 at 11,239.4.

Technology stocks in Taiwan received a powerful lift from Hewlett-Packard, and the Weighted Average advanced almost 3%, up 125.89 points to 4403.59. Big suppliers of notebook computers to the US giant led the surge, which saw some stocks jump by 4%, but big chipmakers drifted off as doubts set in about the resilience of the recent rally in semiconductor demand and prices.

South Korea's market appeared ready to shrug off some early falls and complete a sixth day of gains, but profit-taking proved too strong, and the Kospi dipped 0.73 points to 605.95.

In Australia Normandy Mining soared 6% on a bid from US Newmont Mining group, which topped South African Anglo Gold's offer for the gold miner. Other gold mine and resources stocks were caught up in the surge, which helped the S&P/ASX 200 index to a 7.9 gain at 3344.7. The All Ordinaries rose 77.7 to 3344.7. The rise was trimmed by a mixed performance by bank stocks, following disappointing half-year results from Macquarie Bank, and ANZ led falls with a drop of more than 1%.

Investors in Singapore and Malaysia returned from their one-day holiday full of enthusiasm for blue-chip stocks as sentiment was buoyed by the rapid progress against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Singapore was the region's top performer with a 4.8% leap, while Kuala Lumpur stocks added more than 2%.

Technology stocks were also lifted in Singapore by Hewlett-Packard's better-than-expected results, and with sector gains ranging up to 6%, the Straits Times index vaulted 65.8 points to 1432.2.

Big banks and Malaysian Airlines were lifted by hopes of economic recovery and the Kuala Lumpur Composite responded with a 14.80-points gain to 627.52. General lack of interest in Thai stocks left the market without direction and the SET index drifted down 1.32 points to 265.88. Bargain-hunting by Indonesian investors took the Jakarta Composite up 2.84 points to 375.63.

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.