Asian shares up after IPO splash on Wall Street
BANGKOK—A frothy IPO on Wall Street by social networking site LinkedIn helped lift Asian shares Friday despite mixed signals about the US economy’s health.
The Nikkei 225 index was 0.3 percent higher at 9,648.84 with Japan’s central bank keeping its key interest rate unchanged at virtually zero in a bid to shore up the economy as it hobbles back to pre-earthquake levels of activity. The country’s northeastern coast was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11, which washed away some 500 factories that produce key parts for Japan’s manufacturing industries.
South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.6 percent to 2,107.15. Benchmarks in Indonesia, Malaysia and New Zealand were higher, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.5 percent to 4,734.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was flat at 23,155.75, although Internet shares rose on the heels of the successful initial public offering by LinkedIn, which evoked memories of the dot-com boom and bust by soaring 109 percent on the first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
The debut of LinkedIn, an online networking service for professionals, is seen as a scene setter for other social networking sites that are expected to list during the next year. The candidates include the online messaging service Twitter, game maker Zynga, and the biggest social network of all, Facebook.
Hong Kong-listed Alibaba.com Ltd., a leading e-commerce site in China that went public last year, rose 1.2 percent. Tencent Holdings Ltd. rose 0.8 percent.
Oil prices stayed below $100 a barrel amid lackluster US economic news and a warning by the International Energy Agency that petroleum prices threaten to stall the global economic recovery. The agency warned that there’s “urgent need” for refineries to produce more gasoline.
Regional airlines registered gains on expectations that their fuel costs would decrease. China Southern Airlines Co. Ltd. rose 1.2 percent, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. gained 0.4 percent and Taiwan’s EVA Airways Corp. was up 0.4 percent.
Investor sentiment appeared on the upswing despite mixed economic signals out of the US on Thursday.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve reported that its measure of manufacturing activity slumped to the lowest reading since October. And the National Association of Realtors said the housing market remains weak as fewer people purchased previously occupied homes in April.
On the positive side, the Labor Department reported that the number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell sharply for the second straight week.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.4 percent to close at 12,605.32. The S&P 500 gained 0.2 percent to 1,343.60. The Nasdaq composite index rose 0.3 percent to 2,823.31.
Benchmark crude for June delivery was up 45 cents to $99.38 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost $1.63 to settle at $98.93 per barrel on Thursday.
In currencies, the euro was unchanged from late Thursday in New York at $1.4311. The dollar dropped to 81.63 yen from 81.77 yen.
