Global markets surge on G20 optimism

2009-04-03 07:54:36  

·Wall Street rallied on Thursday with all major indexes rising more than 2 percent. ·Chinese equities closed 0.72 percent higher, setting a new high since late August last year. ·Tokyo stocks closed sharply higher Thursday with the key Nikkei index up 4.41 percent.

Wall Street rallies on accounting rule changing, G20 meeting

2009-04-03 05:30:45  

    NEW YORK, April 2 (Xinhua) --

Wall Street rallied on Thursday with all major indexes rising more than 2 percent as the U.S. Financial Accounting Standard Board (FASB) relaxed mark-to-market rules and the G20 leaders agreed in London to boost global economic recovery. 

    The FASB voted on Thursday to relax the mark-to-market accounting rules, which require companies to value assets at prices reflecting current market conditions, providing a potential boost to battered banks' balance sheets. The new guidelines will apply to the second quarter that began this month.

    Stocks also got boosted on Thursday as the G20 leaders pledged 1.1 trillion U.S. dollars to revive the world economy. In a joint call the G20 leaders pledged to do "whatever necessary" to restore confidence, growth and jobs, and to repair the financial system to restore lending.

    Commodity stocks advanced, as crude added 7.5 percent to over 52 dollars per barrel in early trading and copper gained for a third day.

    Moreover, the U.S. Commerce Department said on Thursday that orders for manufactured products rose by 1.8 percent in February, much better than the 1.1-percent decline that economists had expected.

    Wall Street maintained the rally, even as data showed a surprisingly large jump in jobless claims.

    The Labor Department said on Thursday that initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to a seasonally adjusted 669,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 657,000. That total was above analysts' expectations and the highest in more than 26 years.

    The Dow Jones industrial average gained 216.48 points, or 2.79 percent, to 7,978.08. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 23.30 points, or 2.87 percent, to 834.38. The Nasdaq composite index was up 51.03 points, or 3.29 percent, to 1,602.63. 

FTSE breaks through 4,000

2009-04-02 16:45:05  

    LONDON, April 2 (Xinhua) --

The FTSE 100 of Britain's leading shares broke back through the 4,000 level in Thursday's opening trade, after strong gains seen overnight in Asia.

    The benchmark index was up 91.05 points at 4,046.66, boosted by banking and mining shares.

    Among the banks, Barclays rose 7.1 percent, HSBC was up six percent and RBS gained 5.2 percent.

    Mining shares were helped by rising metals prices. Kazakhmys climbed 6.4 percent with Vedanta Resources up 6.1 percent and Xstrata adding six percent.

Editor: Xiong Tong

Nikkei closes 4.41 pct higher

2009-04-02 16:24:54  

    TOKYO, April 2 (Xinhua) --

Tokyo stocks closed sharply higher Thursday with the key Nikkei index up 4.41 percent.

    The benchmark Nikkei 225 Average surged 367.87 points to 8,719.78.

    The broader Topix index gained 32.87 points to 826.69.    

Editor: Mo Hong'e

Chinese shares gain 0.72% to 7-month record high

2009-04-02 15:18:22  

    BEIJING, April 2 (Xinhua) --

Chinese equities closed 0.72 percent up Thursday to stand at 2425.29 points, setting a new high since late August last year, echoing the overnight Wall Street rebound and the Asian markets rally Thursday.

    The Shanghai Composite Index gained 17.27 points, or 0.72 percent to 2,425.29. The Shenzhen Component Index rose 144.91 points, or 1.58 percent to 9,300.92.

    Losses outnumbered gains by 516 to 342 in Shanghai and by 384 to 342 in Shenzhen.

    Combined turnover expanded to 258.2 billion yuan (37.8 billion U.S. dollars) Thursday from 250.67 billion yuan on the previous trading day.

    Chinese shares opened higher Thursday, tracking the overnight Wall Street gains, amid investors' expectation for more economic stimulus moves at the G20 summit, dealers said.

    The insurance sector boosted the index as investors forecast favorable policies to be announced by the industry regulator this week, which would allow medium and small-sized domestic insurers to invest directly in the stock market.

    China Life rose 2.81 percent to 23.76 yuan, while China Pacific Insurance jumped 3.87 percent to 17.17 yuan.

    Four Chinese commercial lenders --Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), Bank of Communications (BoCom), China Minsheng Banking Corp. and Industrial Bank Co.-- had been given direct access to gold futures trading on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the first time for domestic banks to become gold exchange trading members, according to Thursday's Shanghai Securities News.

    ICBC, the Beijing-based world's largest lender in terms of market value, picked up 0.5 percent to 3.99 yuan, while BoCom bounced 2 percent to 6.62 yuan, with China Minsheng up 2.73 percent to 5.26 yuan and the eastern Fujian-based Industrial Bank up 3.28 percent to 23.65 yuan.

    China Oilfield Services Ltd. rose 0.54 percent to 14.81 yuan, as the country's leading oilfield service provider reported Thursday that its net profit last year increased 38.6 percent year on year to 3.1 billion yuan.

Editor: Xiong Tong

Hong Kong stocks soar 7.41%

2009-04-02 16:47:18  

    HONG KONG, April 2 (Xinhua) --

Hong Kong stocks soared 1,002.43 points, or 7.41 percent, to close at 14,521.97 on Thursday.

    The benchmark index opened at 13,963.34 and fluctuated between 14,533.34 and 13,953.56 during the session.

    Turnover rose to 75.22 billion HK dollars (9.72 billion U.S. dollars) from Wednesday's 52.82 billion HK dollars (6.81 billion U.S. dollars).

Editor: Xiong Tong