Asia shares mostly up, helped by China reforms

HONG KONG—Asian markets mostly rose on Monday, adding to last week’s gains, with Hong Kong and Shanghai boosted by China’s reforms aimed at giving private firms a greater role in the economy.

Traders were given another strong lead from Wall Street, where the Dow and S&P 500 closed Friday at record highs for the third straight session. The dollar edged lower against the yen on profit-taking.

Tokyo ended flat, giving up earlier gains following a four percent rise over the previous two sessions. The Nikkei edged down 1.62 points to 15,164.30.

But Shanghai jumped 2.87 percent, or 61.39 points, to 2,197.22 and Hong Kong was up 2.73 percent, or 627.91 points, at 23,660.06.

Seoul rose 0.26 percent, or 5.17 points, to close at 2,010.81 but Sydney slipped 0.31 percent, or 17.0 points, to 5,384.7.

Traders were cheered after China on Friday released a blueprint for restructuring the world’s No. 2 economy that pledged to open up the financial sector and relax restrictions on investment.

It also said leaders planned to improve the country’s initial public offering system to adopt a more market-oriented approach.

A document issued by the official Xinhua news agency said state firms would be made to pay larger dividends to the government, while private companies would be allowed a bigger role.

The plans provided some relief to traders who had been left disappointed on Tuesday when the Communist Party’s “Third Plenum” political meeting ended with merely a vague communique.

Buying sentiment was also lifted by comments from the woman tipped to take over as the next Federal Reserve chief, which indicated she would keep its stimulus program in place for the time being.

Janet Yellen told senators reviewing her nomination that growth was still too fragile and unemployment too high to begin cutting the bond-buying scheme, which has provided much-needed support to the economy.

In afternoon forex trade the dollar bought 100.00 yen, down from 100.12 yen in New York Friday, while the euro fetched $1.3497 against $1.3493. The single currency was also at 134.93 yen from 135.16 yen.

The Yellen comments helped shares on Wall Street. The Dow gained 0.54 percent on Friday and the S&P 500 added 0.42 percent—both ending at record highs—while the Nasdaq was up 0.33 percent.

In oil trade, New York’s main contract, West Texas Intermediate for delivery in December, fell 28 cents to $93.56. Brent North Sea crude for January was down 40 cents at $108.10.

Gold fetched $1,282.70 per ounce at 1100 GMT compared with $1,282.81 on Friday.

In other markets:

— Singapore rose 0.05 percent, or 1.76 points, to 3,203.03.

DBS Bank fell 0.5 percent to Sg$17.00 while SingTel was up 0.26 percent to Sg$3.77.

— Kuala Lumpur added 2.52 points, or 0.14 percent, to 1,792.39.

Tenaga Nasional gained 0.21 percent to 9.45 ringgit, Malayan Banking added 0.61 percent to 9.83 while Public Bank lost 0.11 percent to 18.16 ringgit.

— Jakarta advanced 1.34 percent, or 58.14 points, to 4,393.59.

Bank Negara Indonesia gained 4.07 percent to 4,475 rupiah while Hero Supermarket lost 1.54 percent to 3,200 rupiah.

— Bangkok added 0.23 percent, or 3.30 points, to 1,423.96.

Siam Cement gained 1.43 percent to 426 baht and convenience store operator CP All rose 1.82 percent to 42 baht.

— Taipei added 0.18 percent, or 14.34 points, to 8,191.46.

Chip design house MediaTek rose 0.85 percent to Tw$414.0 while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company was flat at Tw$104.00.

— Manila was flat, edging down 3.15 points to 6,343.25.

— Wellington fell 0.45 percent, or 22.04 points, to 4,892.04.

Telecoms giant Chorus was down 5.24 percent at NZ$1.90, Fletcher Building slipped 0.73 percent to NZ$9.46 and Telecom was up 0.66 percent at NZ$2.31.

— Mumbai climbed 2.21 percent, or 451.32 points, to end at 20,850.74.

Financial Tech was up 19.99 percent to 181.30 rupees and Jet Air India was down 4.39 percent at 310.40 rupees.