Stocks on the up across Asia
Asian stocks extended gains yesterday, with Australian, Singapore and South Korean markets setting new records, while the yen lost ground to the dollar and euro after the Bank of Japan kept interest rates on hold.
The Bank of Japan left its benchmark overnight call rate unchanged at 0.50 percent as expected, as it waited for more evidence that problems in the US housing and credit markets will not threaten its scenario for modest growth in the country.
"Market players dumped the yen after they saw the BOJ's vote tally stayed at 8-1, with no change in the interest rate outlook," said a senior trader at a big Japanese bank.
By 0545 GMT, MSCI's measure of Asia-Pacific stocks excluding Japan had risen 0.8 percent to a record high, propelling the world index to its best level ever and taking year-to-date gains to nearly 15 percent.
The Nikkei average rose 1.6 percent to end at its highest in nearly two-and-a-half months as ratings agency Moody's upgraded Japan's sovereign debt, lifting market sentiment.
Australian shares rose 0.5 percent to clinch a record closing peak for the third day in a row, buoyed by gains in resources firms such as Rio Tinto Ltd and Woodside Petroleum Ltd on firmer oil and metal prices.
Oil extended gains above $81 a barrel as dealers braced themselves for a possible decline in US winter fuel stocks and digested news of a disruption in crude production in Alaska.
Gold rose to $743.90/744.70 an ounce, from $738.80/739.60 late in New York. Japanese bullion futures hit a 22-year peak.
Seoul shares hit a record intraday high for a fourth straight day, while Singapore's Straits Times touched a lifetime high.
Agencies
(China Daily 10/12/2007 page16)
