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Asian shares charge ahead
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May 16, 2000: 5:58 a.m. ET
Tokyo, Hong Kong advance on Wall Street rally as rate hike discounted
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Asia's major markets remained in positive territory Tuesday after Wall Street recorded its third straight rally the previous day, with investors judging that an expected U.S. interest-rate increase was already built into share prices.
Tokyo's Nikkei Average of 225 leading shares rose 237.56 points, or 1.4 percent, to close at 17,551.25, with Nippon Telegraph and Telephone and its mobile-phone subsidiary NTT DoCoMo powering the index higher.
In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng index rose 278.99 points, or 1.9 percent, to close at 15,160.29, with technology and China-linked shares doing well in light trading. Companies with links to China attracted investors because they would be unaffected by any rise in U.S. interest rates and should benefit from China's eventual entry into the World Trade Organization.
In Singapore, the Straits Times index surged 43.19 points, or 2.2 percent, to 2,054.65, bouyed by electronics stocks, after Monday's gains on the Nasdaq.
The U.S. Dow Jones industrials blue-chip index jumped 2 percent to 10,807.78 Monday, bolstered by deals involving Dow components International Paper and Philip Morris. The technology-laden Nasdaq composite rose 78.62 points, or more than 2 percent, to 3,607.68, but trading was light ahead of a meeting of the Federal Reserve's rate-setting committee. Investors expect the U.S. Federal Reserve to increase interest rates by 0.5 percentage points later Tuesday to cool a red-hot economy.
In the currency markets Tuesday, the yen firmed to ¥108.86 per dollar from ¥109.32 in late New York trading the previous day.
Telecom rebound in Tokyo
The Tokyo stock exchange saw renewed interest in telecom stocks, with Nippon Telegraph and Telephone up 3 percent, while its mobile-phone subsidiary NTT DoCoMo climbed 3.6 percent and Japan Telecom advanced 1.5 percent.
TDK, a maker of electronic materials and recording tapes, surged 5 percent on reports of plans to boost spending on equipment to meet demand for components in computers and digital equipment. Rival Pioneer gained 3.9 percent after it said group operating profit rose 17.3 percent in the year to Mar. 31, boosted by strong sales of DVD players and plasma displays.
Other high-tech and semiconductor stocks registered healthy gains. NEC rose 2.8 percent, Toshiba gained 1 percent and Hitachi added 2.2 percent.
Internet investor Softbank rose 3.9 percent and Oracle Corp. Japan surged 7.3 percent. The Japanese unit of U.S. software giant Oracle Corp (ORCL: Research, Estimates) said it would conduct a 1.5-for-1 share split, effective May 31.
Nissan Shatai surged 40 percent, the leading gainer on the Nikkei index, after Nomura Securities published a report saying earnings of the company that assembles cars for Nissan Motor are expected to recover in the current business year.
In Hong Kong, index heavyweight China Telecom rose 3.6 percent, conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa advanced 3.8 percent, and Hutchison's parent Cheung Kong (Holdings) climbed 3.9 percent as some investors returned to tech stocks after gains on the Nasdaq.
Pacific Century CyberWorks gained 3.7 percent, while its takeover target, Cable & Wireless HKT, was up 0.3 percent
Banks pared their recent losses, led by Dao Heng Bank, which rose 3.7 percent, while Bank of East Asia climbed 2.9 percent and index heavyweight HSBC Holdings closed up 0.3 percent.
China shares in demand
Investors looking for China-related shares sought out tech stocks such as Great Wall Technology, which rose 4 percent, Legend Holdings, up 2.3 percent, and Stone Electronics, which advanced 4.2 percent.
In Australia, the All Ordinaries index rose 34.5 points, or 1.1 percent, to close at 3,053.1, with banking and resources stocks the standouts. Broken Hill Proprietary rose 3.8 percent and Rio Tinto surged 2.1 percent, boosted by rising base metal prices.
In the banking sector, National Australia Bank rose 47 cents to A$24.81 and Australia & New Zealand Banking Corp. gained 21 cents to A$11.91
Among smaller markets, Manila's PSI index fell 0.6 percent on a sharp decline for heavyweight Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., which reported a big drop in first-quarter earnings.
Taiwan's benchmark TAIEX index surged 2.8 percent to close at 8,727.82 as dominant electronics stocks advanced on Wall Street's rally Monday.
Malaysia's KLSE index eased 0.8 points to 917.85, while Jakarta's benchmark JSX fell 3.6 percent. In Bangkok, the SET rose 2.8 percent, and the Kospi index rose 2.5 percent in Seoul. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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