Asia shares climb after Yellen stimulus remarks

HONG KONG—Asian markets rose Thursday on hopes that prospective Fed chief Janet Yellen will keep its stimulus program in place, with Tokyo leading gains after third-quarter economic growth data beat forecasts.

The dollar bounced back against the yen after a fall in New York, while Wall Street provided another strong lead with record finishes for the Dow and S&P 500 indexes.

Japan’s Nikkei jumped 2.12 percent, or 309.25 points, to 14,876.41, Sydney added 0.68 percent, or 36.2 points, to 5,355.4 and Seoul was 0.20 percent higher, adding 4.00 points to 1,967.56.

Shanghai rose 0.60 percent, or 12.57 points, to 2,100.51, bouncing back from losses in the previous session that were fuelled by disappointment at a vague reform plan from China’s leadership Tuesday.

Hong Kong added 0.82 percent, or 185.32 points, to close at 22,649.15.

Investors were cheered by dovish comments from Yellen, nominated to succeed Ben Bernanke as head of the Federal Reserve, as she prepares to face a Senate grilling.

In remarks prepared for Thursday’s hearing, Yellen, the current Fed vice chair, signaled her support for continuing the central bank’s $85 billion-a-month bond-buying until the economy shows signs of a firm recovery.

She said unemployment at 7.3 percent was too high and reflected an economy running “far short” of its potential. When unveiling the scheme in September last year the bank said it would only start winding it down when the economy was strong enough.

The comments weighed on the dollar in New York, sending it down to 99.14 yen from 99.62 on Tuesday.

But in afternoon Tokyo trade Thursday it was up at 99.75 yen. The euro fetched $1.3467 and 134.35 yen compared with $1.3492 and 133.73 yen on Wednesday in New York.

The weaker yen provided support to the Nikkei, which was already higher after Japan released data showing the economy grew 1.9 percent on an annualised basis in the July-September quarter.

While the figure was half the 3.8 percent seen in the previous three months, it was up from a 1.7 percent expansion predicted by economists.

The weaker growth comes on the back of falling demand in emerging markets—which have been hit by uncertainty over the US stimulus—while consumption at home has also softened and energy import costs have shot up because of the weaker yen.

On oil markets New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate for December delivery, was down four cents at $93.84 a barrel. Brent North Sea crude for December rose 15 cents to $107.27.

Gold fetched $1,283.06 per ounce at 0800 GMT compared with $1,276.50 on Wednesday.

In other markets:

— Wellington rose 0.17 percent, or 8.52 points, to 4,927.18.

Fletcher Building closed up 0.21 percent at NZ$9.70, Warehouse Group rose 1.27 percent to NZ$4.00 and Telecom slipped 1.51 percent to NZ$2.29.

— Taipei gained 0.38 percent, or 30.65 points, to 8,134.91.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. rose 0.49 percent to Tw$103.5 while smartphone maker HTC fell 0.32 percent to Tw$153.5.

— Kuala Lumpur gained 1.71 points, or 0.10 percent, to close at 1,784.20.

UMW Holdings added 4.3 percent to 12.76, while MISC rose 1.8 percent to 5.14. Petronas Gas fell 1.7 percent to 22.72 ringgit.

— Bangkok gained 0.78 percent or 10.92 points to close at 1,415.69.

Coal producer Banpu was up 0.91 percent or 0.25 baht to 27.75, while energy giant PTT Plc was unchanged at 308 baht.

— Singapore closed up 0.77 percent, or 24.34 points, at 3,191.08.

DBS Bank rose 0.83 percent to Sg$17.09 while oil rig maker Keppel Corp gained 1.01 percent to Sg$11.00.

— Jakarta ended up 1.52 percent, or 65.48 points, at 4,367.37.

State miner Aneka Tambang gained 1.48 percent to 1,370 rupiah, while mobile phone provider Indosat fell 2.03 percent to 3,625 rupiah.

— Manila climbed 0.11 percent, or 6.92 points, to 6,327.88.

— Mumbai ended up 205.02 points or 1.02 per cent to end at 20,399.42 points.