Chinese shares gained 2.55 percent on Thursday following the latest interest rate cut by the central bank and a strong rebound in Hong Kong. Singapore and Tokyo stocks also rose in line with other Asian markets after the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks cut interest rates.

Chinese shares rise after interest rate cut

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 2.55 percent, or 43.8 points, to close at 1,763.61. The Shenzhen index was up 1.91 percent, or 110.99 points, to close at 5,909.66 points.

The combined turnover was 49.35 billion yuan (7.26 billion U.S. dollars), compared with the previous trading day's 50.06 billion yuan. Gains outnumbered losses by 584 to 208 in Shanghai and 488 to 172 in Shenzhen.

Banks and property developers' shares rose. China Vanke, the country's largest real estate company, closed at 5.96 yuan, 1.02 percent higher than the previous day. Bank of China gained 1.34 percent to 3.03 yuan.

Securities companies also rebounded from a sharp drop Wednesday after the country's securities regulator dismissed reports of a delay in when margin trading and short selling businesses will be available to investors. An exact date is yet to be set.

On Wednesday night, the country's central bank announced its third interest rate cuts in six weeks. The move spurred economic growth amid fears of a global recession.

Though still cautious about the effects of the rate cuts, analysts believed it would help stabilize the stock market.

A strong performance on the Asia-Pacific markets also contributed to boosting the A-share market. Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng Index gained more than 12 percent to close above 14,300 points.

Hong Kong stocks close 12.82 pct higher

Hong Kong stocks rose 1,627.78 points, or 12.82 percent, to close at 14,329.85 on Thursday, after a half-point interest rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) overnight and a 0.27 percent benchmark interest rate cut by China's central bank Wednesday.

Turnover totaled 75.12 billion HK dollars (9.70 billion U.S. dollars), up from Wednesday's 59.23 billion HK dollars (7.59 billion U.S. dollars).

The Fed cut a key interest rate by half a percentage point to 1.0 percent to prevent the economy from slipping into deep recession. China's central bank, the People's Bank of China (PBOC), also announced on Wednesday it would cut benchmark interest rates by 0.27 percent to spur economic growth as of Oct. 30.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) also announced Thursday that the base rate is adjusted downward to a historic low of 1.5 percent with immediate effect, following the U.S. Federal Reserve's move.

Joseph Yam, the Chief Executive of the HKMA, said he hoped local banks would now reduce lending rates to help ease the credit squeeze, adding that the HKMA would inject more liquidity into the markets if necessary.

But Yam said the impact of the cut would take some time to filter into different sectors of the economy to benefit businesses and individual investors.

Taiwan stocks end 6.28 pct higher

Taiwan's share prices surged Thursday, with the weighted index, the market's key barometer, moving up 277.12 points, or 6.28 percent, to close at 4,683.64, according to news reaching here from Taipei.

Finishing higher for the third consecutive day, the local bourse opened at the day's low of 4,448.51 and rose as high as 4,684.11. A total of 4.03 billion shares changed hands on market turnover of 67.7 billion new Taiwan dollars (2.06 billion U.S. dollars).

All eight major stock categories gained ground, with paper and pulp issues moving up the most at 6.9 percent. Banking and financial shares advanced 6.8 percent, plastics and chemicals shares and construction issues both increased 6.6 percent, textile stocks were up 6.5 percent, cement stocks grew 6.4 percent, machinery and electronics shares rose 6.1 percent, and foodstuff issues gained 4.8 percent.

Gainers outnumbered losers 1,348 to 194, with 278 stocks remaining unchanged.

Singapore shares end 7.82 pct higher

The shares prices in Singapore closed 7.82 percent higher on Thursday in line with other Asian markets after the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks cut interest rates.

The benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) jumped 130.71 points to 1,801.91 points. The overall volume stood at 1.82 billion shares worth 1.6 billion Singapore dollars (about 1.1 billion U.S. dollars).

Gainers led losers by 406 to 151 with another 784 unchanged.

On Wednesday, the STI gained 4.71 points or 0.28 percent to end at 1,671.2 points.

Tokyo stocks close nearly 10 pct higher

Tokyo stocks closed sharply higher Thursday amid sharp rises in Asian stocks market and a stronger U.S. dollar.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 average regained the 9,000 mark, advancing 817.86 points, or 9.96 percent, to 9,029.76.

The Topix index on the Tokyo Stock Exchange gained 69.05 points, or 8.32 percent, to 899.37.

On the First Section, advancing issues outnumbered declining issues 1,493 to 176, with 41 others remaining unchanged.

Value leader Toyota Motor climbed 400 yen, or more than 11 percent, to 3,900 yen.

Trading volume on the main section went up to 3,035.87 million shares from 2,981.13 million Wednesday.

The TSE's Second Section index increased 39.39 points, or 2.05 percent, to 1,958.49 on a volume of 32.95 million shares.

On the Osaka Securities Exchange, the near-term December Nikkei 225 index futures contract rose 730 points to 9,030.

(Xinhua News Agency October 30, 2008)