HONG KONG: Asian shares were mixed
Wednesday after upbeat US economic data sent Wall Street soaring to a fresh
all-time high and pushed the greenback to notch up strong gains against the
yen.
Trading remained volatile in Tokyo,
with the Nikkei swinging between positive and negative territory before edging
up 0.10 percent by noon.
Japanese stocks have made sharp
intraday movements since the index plunged 7.3 percent last Thursday as
investors rushed to book profits after poor Chinese manufacturing data.
In other markets, Hong Kong was down
0.71 percent, Seoul was up 0.54 percent, Shanghai gained 0.18 percent while
Sydney traded flat.
In post-holiday New York trading the
Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 0.69 percent at 15,409.39, a new
all-time high on strong gains in US home prices and consumer confidence.
The widely watched
S&P/Case-Shiller index of US home prices showed the price of a home in the
20 largest cities rose 10.9 percent in the year to March, the largest
year-on-year increase since 2006.
Consumer confidence in the US -- a
key barometer of the health of the world's largest economy -- surged to 76.2 in
May, up from 69.0 in April, hitting the highest level since February 2008.
Stocks were also boosted by
indications of continued monetary policy support, with some market watchers
expressing confidence that the US Federal Reserve would maintain its
bond-buying program.
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