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Asian markets up as war begins
TOKYO, Japan -- Key Asian stocks have finished sharply higher Thursday in the first reaction by global equity markets to the start of war in Iraq. Japan's broad Topix index put on more than 2 percent, while South Korea's benchmark Kospi soared almost 5 percent. Singapore, Australia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and New Zealand also firmed. Asia's gains follow a strong showing on Wall Street on Wednesday and a fifth day of rises for Europe. News of the start of war came in the middle of the Asian trading day. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer announced at 0245 GMT Thursday (11.45 a.m. Tokyo time) the opening stages of the disarmament of Iraq had begun. That was 1 hour and 45 minutes after the deadline for the U.S. ultimatum passed. Thirty minutes later, at 0315GMT, U.S. President George W. Bush made a four-minute address confirming hostilities had begun against "selected targets of military importance". Quoting Pentagon sources, CNN reported cruise missile and bombing strikes had been launched, some against a "leadership target of opportunity" in Baghdad. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 finished the day with a gain of 1.79 percent to 8195.05, after touching 8287.09 at one point. The broader Topix put on 2.33 percent to 807.48. The Nikkei's surge was in sharp contrast to its performance on Wednesday morning, when it touched a fresh 20-year low of 7824.82. South Korea led the region's gains, with a rise of 4.92 percent for the Kospi to 568.46. Taiwan made a gain of 1.86 percent, Australia rose 0.68 percent and Hong Kong put on 0.39 percent. New Zealand's Top 50 finished a third of a percent higher at 1902.07, but the market's biggest stock, Air New Zealand, fell almost 2 percent to NZ$0.50. Singapore ended up 1.80 percent. Asia's strong rally is built on hopes that the war in Iraq will be short-lived, leading to a fall in oil prices and a more stable growth outlook for the global economy. Analysts say the next few days will be a critical pointer. "The market is much more confident of a quick war this time than it was in 1991," Gerard Minack, chief equity strategist at ABN AMRO Australia, told Reuters just after the U.S.-led attack on Iraq began. Earlier, markets in Europe were higher again on Wednesday , while in the United States, the Dow Jones industrial average delivered its sixth day of gains. (Full story) Driving the gains in Tokyo were big exporters such as Sony, up 3 percent to 4480 yen, and Honda and Nissan, both up more than 4 percent. Japan's No. 1 carmaker, Toyota, put on 2.53 percent to 2840 yen. Mobile phone giant NTT DoCoMo, the market's biggest stock, surged 5.45 percent to 232,000 yen. Tech-related makers Fujitsu, Hitachi, NEC, Matsushita Electric and Mitsubishi Electric were also firmer. Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways both finished almost 4 percent higher on a report they will raise domestic and international air fares soon. (Full story) Big banks also enjoyed the broad rally in Tokyo, UFJ Holdings leading the way with a gain of 5.31 percent to 119,000 yen. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group rose 3.06 percent to 236,000 yen and Mizuho added 1.76 percent to 98,500 yen. Samsung, Hyundai Motor up
In South Korea, where the Kospi soared 4.92 percent to 568.46, market heavyweight Samsung Electronics rose 5.24 percent to 311,500 won. Big exporter Hyundai Motor jumped 6.03 percent to 24,600 won and SK Telecom rose 2.9 percent to 159,500 won. The gains in Seoul came as a senior government official said the country's economy was weakening faster than expected. (Full story) In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 moved higher after the White House announcement, before easing a little to finish 0.68 percent higher at 2866.1. Media group News Corp, which gets most of its profits from the U.S. market and is the biggest stock in Australia, jumped 3.94 percent to A$11.08. Resources stock Rio Tinto, telco Telstra and leading banks NAB and CBA, also finished higher. Qantas Airways rose 0.6 percent to A$3.35. Winemaker Southcorp finished unchanged at A$3.55 after naming a new CEO. (Full story) Taiwan's Taiex rose 1.86 percent to 4599.25. The market's biggest stock, chip foundry TSMC, was 1.46 percent higher at T$49.00. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index finished up 0.39 percent to 9194.56. Banking leader HSBC was 0.3 percent higher at HK$83.75. Mobile phone companies China Mobile and China Unicom also closed stronger. In Singapore, the Straits Times index closed at 1,308.17, but off the day's peak of 1,318.53. Banks led the gainers with OCBC Bank leaping 7.22 percent to a two-month high of S$9.65 after announcing a surprise dividend for investors. Reuters contributed to this report.
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