Wall Street fires Asia, Nikkei up in new year trade

Singapore, Jan 4: Tokyo stocks rocketed to a strong finish on Friday in their first day of trading in 2002, and other Asian bourses also surged, fired by a tech-led rally on Wall Street overnight.

Tokyo technology shares hauled their market upwards from the early hours of the half-day trading session, boosted by Thursday’s gains in their US peers, including Intel Corp, EMC Corp and Microsoft Corp.
"Investors are now following the US surge, but the real test will be on Monday, when everyone comes back to work," said Minoru Tada, a director at World Nichiei Securities.

"We’re not seeing much selling from corporations and banks whose unwinding of cross-held shares usually dulls any market advance. They’re probably still in holiday mode." The benchmark Nikkei average ended up 3.12 per cent or 328.87 points at 10,871.49. In foreign exchange markets, the dollar edged down versus the yen while the euro retreated against the yen and was steady against the dollar in early Tokyo trade. The single currency had rallied on Wednesday as new euro notes and coins landed in cash registers and pockets, but investors began to doubt the euro’s rally and some said the currency changeover would matter little economically.

By 0531 GMT, the euro was trading at 117.85/96 from 118.26 yen in late New York and the dollar was at 131.05/10 yen from 131.69/77 in late New York. US Stocks surged on Thursday as computer chip stocks stole the limelight with investors spurred by reports of rising sales and higher prices in the sector.

The Dow Jones Industrial average ended up 0.98 per cent at 10,172.14, its highest close since August, while the tech-packed Nasdaq Composite Index rose 3.29 per cent to 2,044.27. The gains on Nasdaq and Wall Street sparked a flurry of sharp tech-led gains across the region, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Seoul’s KOSPI powering up more 2 per cent by midday and Taiwan’s TAIEX closing up 2.03 per cent at a nine-month high of 5,638.53. Thailand’s tech index surged to a 13-month high in morning trade, driving some analysts to revise their calls on Thai tech shares.

— Reuters