Asian stocks advanced, after oil and metal prices gained and U.S. housing starts unexpectedly rose.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index surged 696.71 points, or 3.7%, to close at 19,502.37. The Tokyo stock market had the day off.
Australia’s S&P/ASX Index gained strength as Treasurer Wayne Swan said withdrawing stimulus from the nation’s economy before the global recession unfolds would be "very risky."
James Hardie Industries NV, the biggest seller of home siding in the U.S., rose 5.9% in Sydney.
China Life Insurance Co. climbed 6.5% in Hong Kong as regulators said first-half profit at the nation’s insurers almost doubled.
Wharf Holdings Ltd., a Hong Kong landlord and port operator, jumped 7.4% after Macquarie Group Ltd. lifted its share-price target. Alibaba.com Ltd., the operator of China’s biggest trading Web site, surged 13% in Hong Kong after Xinhua news agency said the number of online shoppers in the country jumped.
BHP Billiton Ltd., the world’s largest mining company and Australia’s biggest oil company, gained 2.3%. Rio Tinto Group, the world’s No. 3 mining company, climbed 1.8%.
Samsung Electronics Co., which gets 19% of its revenue in America, added 3%. The company settled a patent-infringement lawsuit filed by the California Institute of Technology over digital cameras.
Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd., the flagship company of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing, climbed 5.6%. Citigroup Inc. lifted its price target for the stock to HK$107.84 from HK$96.53, saying the company, Hong Kong’s second-largest developer, will benefit from the "strong momentum" in the city’s property market.
In Singapore, City Developments Ltd., the second-biggest homebuilder in the city-state, gained 4.4%. The company has sold between 50 and 60 units of an 85-unit luxury residential condominium project at about S$2,000 ($1,387 U.S.) per square foot, the Business Times newspaper reported.
STX Pan Ocean Ltd., South Korea’s biggest bulk carrier, gained 5% in Seoul. Pacific Basin Shipping Ltd., Hong Kong’s biggest bulk shipping company, rose 3.3%
CHINA
Shanghai’s 300 Composite Index added 71.31 points or 2% to 3,591.81. Jiangxi Copper Co., China’s largest producer of the metal, surged 10% in Shanghai, as the China Insurance Regulatory Commission said the country’s insurers may post a 98% increase in first-half profit to 26.1 billion yuan. The regulator didn’t specify if the figure was for net income.
The stock also gained as Citic Securities Co. raised its 2009 earnings growth estimate for companies listed in China to 14% from an earlier 9%.
China reported last week that its gross domestic product grew 7.9% in the second quarter, beating the 7.8% median forecast of 20 economists in a Bloomberg survey. A four-trillion yuan ($585-billion U.S.) stimulus package and the scrapping of lending restrictions for banks helped trigger the revival in the world’s third-largest economy.
The country’s stock market may surpass the U.S. as the world’s largest by value in three years as state-owned companies sell new shares and the nation’s 1.4 billion people put more of their money into equities, according to at least one expert.
Alibaba.com surged 13%. China’s online shoppers increased to 87.9 million in the first half of 2009, Xinhua news agency said on July 17, citing the China Internet Network Information Center.
China Cosco Holdings Co., the world’s biggest operator of dry-bulk ships, jumped 7.4% in Shanghai.
Elsewhere:
Singapore’s Straits Times Index increased 25.19 points, or 1%, to 2,456.15
South Korea’s Kospi index advanced 38.41 points, or 2.7%, to 1,478.51
Taiwan’s Taiex maintained its momentum, jumping 87.87 points, or 1.3%, to 6,938.86
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index began the week positive by 12.69 points, or 0.5%, higher to 2,820.91
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 tacked on 49.50 points, or 1.2%, to 4,050.30
