Nikkei climbs on US hopes

STOCKS in

Japanese buyers continued to ignore mixed signals about their own economy and the Nikkei 225 Average resumed its recent steep climb with a gain of 289.81 points or 2.55% to 11,648.34. This year's rise of almost 12% has made Tokyo the top performing major stock market in the world.

Returns to foreigners have been further boosted by the recent run-up in the yen, which reached two- month highs of above 130.50 to the US dollar today. Stocks in any Japanese companies with exposure to the US consumer market led today's rises. Sony surged 3.5% to an eight-month peak on hopes of growing sales of consumer electronics, and motor shares that had benefited from the falling yen were bought on expectations of rising US demand. Toyota gained 1.6%.

Semiconductor stocks also gained, equipment suppliers leading the way. Advantest, which makes chip-testing devices, soared almost 7%. The clampdown on short selling of Japanese stocks continued to boost the market, and banking giant Mizuho Holdings, a long-term target of hedge fund bears, roared up more than 10%.

Nervousness that the Hong Kong government was about to inflict higher taxes as it tackled its burgeoning deficit evaporated in what many regarded as a timid and uneventful budget. Attention moved to US-centred stocks, and HSBC Holdings, which stands to do well from its large American retail banking base, rose 50 cents to HK$91.50, leading the Hang Seng index up 185.1 points to 11,188.1.

Shares in trading companies were in demand while another boost to the index came from locally-quoted mainland mobile phone operators, which soared more than 3% on assurances of new competitors being allowed into the market.

Australian investors were feeling particularly lucky as the country emerged as one of the fastest growing in the world after GDP jumped 1.3% in the third quarter to end-December. The All Ordinaries index crammed on 101.1 points to 3497.6 after government treasurer Peter Costello forecast GDP growth of 3% in the current year. Top stock was telecoms group Telstra which rose almost 3% as it continued to build on yesterday's gains sparked by interim results that were better than expected.

Profit-taking left the recent high-flying markets of Taiwan and South Korea lagging. The Weighted Average in Taiwan slipped 49.52 points to 6048.15, after reaching 13-month highs earlier this week. The Kospi index in Seoul drooped 14.13 points to 828.93.

In other Asian markets only Malaysia showed a gain, the Kuala Lumpur Composite up 1.6 points at 738.65. Singapore's Straits Times index lost 16.7 points at 1782.9, Thailand's SET fell 3.69 to 388.02, and in Indonesia the Jakarta index was off 3.05 points at 473.91.

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.