HK, Australia taking markets higher


Hong Kong was up strongly near the close of its half-day trading session Monday. Japan and Korea are closed.

SYDNEY, Australia -- With key stock markets in Japan and Korea closed Monday for the Lunar New Year holidays, Hong Kong and Australia provided the focus for investors in early Asian trading.

Hong Kong was up strongly, with the Hang Seng index putting on about 2.4 percent to 10,760 near the close of its half-day session.

Banking leader HSBC was up HK$2.00 or 2.3 percent or $7.75. The other market heavyweight, China Mobile, put on 3.4 percent to HK$22.75.

Australia also traded strongly, with its benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index moving close to its record high of 3490.3 set in June last year.

The market put on 28.1 points or 0.81 percent to 3478.52 in early afternoon trade, with resources and big banks on the rise.

In the U.S. last Friday, Wall Street had rebounded sharply. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average jumped 1.23 percent to 9744.24 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 2.06 percent to 1818.88.

New Zealand weaker

Australia's market heavyweight, media group News Corp, was up almost 3 percent to A$13.53, ahead of its first quarter results Wednesday.

The two biggest banks, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank, rose 1.07 percent to A$34.85 and 1.27 percent to A$32.76 respectively.

New Zealand's NZSE Top 40 was weaker, down 6.5 points or 0.3 percent to 2088.31. Manila and Bangkok traded higher.

With Taiwan already closed for the holidays, Singapore was the other big Asian market to draw attention.

Its Straits Times index was up slightly near midday, putting on 4.88 points or 0.28 percent to 1741.30. The heaviest volume among blue chips was for UOB, which last traded at S$14.40.

Gold back in favor

In Australia, gold stocks returned to favor after gold hit a three-and-a-half year high in Tokyo and a two-year high in London.

Leading producer Normandy added 1.3 percent to $2.36 on high turnover, Reuters reported. Lihir was also heavily traded, gaining 1.3 percent to A$1.59.

Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto opened lower but later recovered with a 38 cent gain to A$39.98, while BHP Billiton gained 1.72 percent to A$11.85. BHP will unveil half-year earnings later this week.

MIM lifted 0.8 percent to A$1.35 after the miner said it expected second half net profit to come in above the A$21 million (US$11 million) net profit booked in the first half.

Traders were also digesting the Reserve Bank of Australia's statement on monetary policy for its views on the economic outlook and likely interest rate movements. The central bank left rates unchanged after its monthly meeting last week.

In Hong Kong, which will reopen on Friday morning, analysts said China Mobile was staging a technical rebound after sliding 20 percent in the past month, Reuters reported.

But it is likely to remain unsettled, they said, on fears that the company's average revenue per user is declining and uncertainty about when Beijing plans to stop charging mobile phone users for incoming calls and issue more mobile phone licences.

China's Mobile's chief rival, China Unicom, was up 2.7 percent to HK$7.65.