HONG KONG, Dec 29: Asian stocks ended the trading year on Friday on another high as Sydney, Shanghai, Singapore and Wellington closed at record highs with gains capped by profit taking.
The profit taking followed mild losses on Wall Street overnight and resulted in Hong Kong easing off its record high but elsewhere the year end rally could not be thwarted with Shanghai soaring 4.22 per cent.
TOKYO: Share prices inched up in the final trading session of 2006 to leave the benchmark index with a gain of 6.92 per cent over a turbulent year marked by financial scandals.
The Nikkei-225 index gained 1.02 points to 17,225.83. Volume was 985 million shares, compared with 1.77 billion for all Thursday.
HONG KONG: Share prices closed 0.19 per cent weaker, trading just below the key 20,000-point mark, as investors locked in profits in some China stocks and select blue chips.
The Hang Seng Index closed down 37.19 points at 19,964.72. Turnover was 43.62 billion Hong Kong dollars (5.6 billion US).
SYDNEY: Share prices ended the year at record levels, adding 0.17 per cent despite a lack of strong momentum in the half-day trading session.
The S and P/ASX 200 climbed 9.4 points to 5,669.9. Trading was light, with 824.7 million shares worth 1.90 billion dollars (1.49 billion US) changing hands.
CommSec equities economist Martin Arnold said the expectation was that the Australian share market would continue to grow in 2007.
“We expect both the All Ordinaries and S and P/ASX 200 indices to lift to around 6,150 by December 2007, Arnold said.
SINGAPORE: Share prices capped the year by closing at another record high, boosted by gains in small-caps.
The Straits Times Index rose 22.34 points to 2,985.83. Volume was 1.84 billion shares worth 1.25 billion dollars (815 million US).
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed 0.68 per cent higher on the year's final trading session, as blue-chips were boosted by last-minute window dressing.
The composite index closed up 7.39 points to 1,096.24. Volume totalled 995.02 million shares valued at 1.17 billion ringgit (331 million dollars).
WELLINGTON: Share prices closed 0.20 per cent higher at a fresh record Friday, ending the year's trading on a high note.
The NZX-50 gross index rose 8.18 points to 4,055.47 on turnover worth 54.1 million New Zealand dollars (38.2 million US).
We've finished at a record and it's all very positive,” said Grant Williamson, partner at Hamilton Hindin Greene.
Williamson said stock prices could rise further early in the new year.
The earnings and just what impact the high dollar is going to have on some of these companies' earnings is going to decide what the market does in coming months, he said.
Fletcher Building rose 10 cents to $11.05.—AFP
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