Nasdaq rally fails to coax buyers

ASIAN stocks struggled to regain recently lost ground today after the Nasdaq had come off the ropes in late trading in New York and the Dow Jones Industrial Average reversed early heavy losses. The regional rallies looked fragile, suggesting that Asian investors still need convincing that the US bear is heading back into hibernation.

Japanese technology stocks gained some ground, helped by the US performance, and also in response to the Tokyo government's words and deeds aimed at capping the recent ascent of the yen against the US dollar. In thin trading, the Nikkei 225 bobbed up and down in morning trade, before scrambling to close up 25.35 points at 10,496.67.

With many analysts declaring that the relative slide in the Nikkei had left Japanese blue-chips undervalued, buyers moved in on selected technology stocks, with computer manufacturing equipment makers leading the way with gains of up to 3.5%. The prospects of a ceiling being set for the yen's ascent also lifted big motor groups which depend on the US for major sales and Honda Motor accelerated almost 3%.

Asian investors remain unconvinced by a stream of bullish reports from investment bankers claiming that the retreat from the storming gains in the early part of the year has left most markets heavy undervalued.

Hong Kong stocks failed to hold early morning gains, and the Hang Seng ended down 48.4 at 10,609. Monday's surge in mainland Chinese stocks, which followed a Beijing pledge to stop flooding the market with new equity, quickly dried up as profit-takers took advantage of price spikes of more than 10%.

The World Cup fever gripping Seoul ahead of today's semi-final between the national team and Germany failed to rub off on investors, and renewed profit-taking pushed the Kospi down 4.63 points to a four-month low of 763.29. Nasdaq's performance provided no inspiration in Taiwan, where electronics stocks continued to pull the Weighted Average down. It lost 6.80 to 5378.09.

Shares of Australia's Macquarie Bank soared almost 5% after the Southern Cross consortium headed by the bank made a successful bid for Sydney's international airport. The consortium, which also includes Commonwealth Bank of Australia, is to pay the government A$5.6bn(£2.1bn) in the country's single biggest privatisation project. The All Ordinaries index rose 41.2 to 3227.6.

Malaysian stocks were on the slide as investors continued to be wracked by the clouded political outlook for the country following Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's short-lived resignation at the weekend. After tumbling 2.7% yesterday, the Kuala Lumpur Composite lost a further 0.86% with a 6.22-point fall to 720.28 as pundits pondered on the implications of life without the entrenched Mahathir, who has ruled the country for 21 years.

Singapore's Straits Times index soared 25.7 to 1563.6. After six days of losses, Thai stocks levelled out on bargain hunting which took the SET index up 0.53 to 394.41. There was no respite for Indonesia's Composite, which extended seven days of losses with a 3.99-point fall to 514.82.

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