Asian markets up on dealers confident

The New Age

Asian markets were broadly up Monday as investor confidence continued to flow following welcome positive news from China and after a massive stimulus plan was unveiled in Taiwan.
Although Japan was down 0.44 per cent due to a lack of leads from Wall Street, which was closed for Easter on Friday, Singapore added 2.54 per cent, Shanghai 2.84 per cent and Taipei 1.31 per cent.
Jakarta recorded its biggest leap this year, adding 5.1 per cent.
Hong Kong, Sydney, New Zealand and Bangkok were also closed Monday for the Easter holiday.
Shanghai was helped by premier Wen Jiabao saying that manufacturing output had jumped in March, while other figures showed Chinese banks lending had surged to a record high for the month.
Singapore was cheered by hopes that the island may be coming to the end of its downward economic spiral, analysts said, while Taiwan's market was boosted by the passage of a massive stimulus plan through parliament on Friday.
The Nikkei-225 fell 39.68 points to 8,924.43. TDK dropped 5.1 per cent to 3,940 yen and Hitachi slid 3.9 per cent to 320 yen.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers A and B shares, was up 69.48 points at 2,513.70.
The KOSPI ended up 2.22 points at 1,338.26.
The blue-chip Straits Times Index closed 48.26 points higher at 1,876.77,
The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index was 0.03 points higher at 941.41.
The 30-share Sensex rose 163.36 points to 10.967.22, its seventh straight day of gains, after hitting the key 11,000-point level in intraday trade.