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HONG KONG: Asian stock markets moved broadly higher Monday after a week of massive losses, as investors reacted with guarded optimism to international efforts to end the global financial crisis.
Hong Kong and Sydney were up, recovering some of their losses from last week's marathon sell-off, after US and European leaders at the weekend agreed to take joint action to end the turmoil.
Asia's largest stock market in Tokyo was closed for a public holiday after slumping 24 per cent last week.
Hong Kong was more than three per cent up, rebounding after its steepest weekly decline in a decade.
Australian shares ended the day 5.6 per cent higher - rebounding from an 8.3 per cent plummet Friday - after Canberra announced plans at the weekend to guarantee bank deposits, sending shares in the financial sector sharply higher.
In a bid to shore up the market Australia's central bank also pumped A$2.85 billion (US$1.9 billion) into the financial system to ease the grinding liquidity crisis.
"This is the first really solid move for the market to get its teeth into and it's a wonderful bounce to give people a bit of confidence," ABN Amro Morgan private client adviser Bill Bishop said.
He warned, however, that the government's deposit guarantee was probably not enough to ensure a lasting change in market direction.
New Zealand had a rollercoaster after opening lower, then moving into positive territory but ending the day 0.82 per cent off despite similar government guarantees on bank deposits to Australia.
South Korea's KOSPI bounced 3.8 per cent higher after the exchange was earlier forced to suspend trading temporarily to cool the market.
Singapore and Manila both saw shares rally, with Singapore stocks three per cent higher early on, while Philippine shares ended one per cent up. Shanghai was 1.5 per cent better off in afternoon trade.
But Indonesian shares lost 3.4 per cent after being suspended for three days last week on heavy losses.
Stocks in Taiwan ended more than two per cent down on lingering concerns over liquidity in the market.
In Hong Kong, gold, a safe haven when equities are falling, opened lower Monday at US$860.00-862.00 an ounce, down from Friday's close of US$926.00-927.00.
And oil prices rose, with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in November, was US$3.04 higher at US$80.74 a barrel, recovering from one-year lows reached on Friday.
The contract had plunged US$8.89 to US$77.70 at the end of last week, in tandem with a global equities meltdown on fears of recession that would crimp demand for energy. Brent North Sea crude for November delivery traded US$2.27 higher at US$76.36.
The cautious stocks picture came after markets around the world saw some of their worst losses in years last week, as spooked investors fled stocks in a worldwide collapse of confidence that only triggered more panic selling.
Leaders from the 15 eurozone countries agreed Sunday to guarantee inter-bank lending at an emergency summit in Paris.
The emergency measures followed weekend talks by the Group of Seven largest economies and a US$700-billion US bank bailout, as governments scrambled to end the meltdown on the markets.
Sarkozy said that while individual eurozone countries would unveil the scope of their own domestic plans on Monday, all had agreed a specific series of measures designed to restore confidence in the economic system.
All eyes were on the US and European markets after the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday closed down 1.5 per cent at 8,451.19 on Friday, while European markets posted far larger losses, ending a calamitous week.
- AFP/yb
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