Bulls Dominate Asia

Most regional benchmarks record strong to steady gains in the first session of the week

Bullish sentiments dominated the trading in the Asian equities in the first session of the week on strong cues from the US markets Friday and a retreat in the US dollar, which spurred the demand for risky assets. Oil hit back above $82 per barrel while metals also stayed firm, making the resource sector stocks lead from the front for the benchmark regional indices.

Yesterday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy promised Greece on Sunday that euro zone countries would help it overcome its financial problems and vowed a crack down on financial speculators Athens blames for its woes. This spurred the Euro on expectations that Greece will get assistance from euro-zone governments. Euro traded enar 1.3700extdnign the recent gains after rebounding from nearly 10 month lows and pushed up oil in tandem with other commodities. Euro currently trades at 1.3648 against the US dollar from levels near 1.3500 last week.

Meanwhile, the other big story of the day came from China. A 17% year-on-year increase in China's broad money supply, and a target of 7.5 trillion yuan (1.1 billion U.S. dollars) for this year, indicated a relatively easy monetary policy, said Su Ning, deputy governor of the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank.

Speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing annual session of the top legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC), Su said the 17 percent increase in the nation's broad money supply was larger than the combined increase of targeted GDP and CPI growth, which suggested an "easy" monetary policy. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Friday, in the government work report submitted to the NPC, that China targeted an approximate 3 percent rise in consumer prices and 8 percent GDP growth this year.

Chinese banking and property stocks broadly advanced in Hong Kong as well as Shanghai on hopes Beijing will retain its moderately loose policy stance following the assurance from the central bank. China's Shanghai Composite index, which covers both A and B shares, closed at 3,053, up 22 points or 0.73%, led by renewable energy stocks on hopes for government support to the industry. Baoshan Iron & Steel Co. rose nearly 3% and China Shenhua Energy Co. added 1.3%.

Hong Kong stocks also rose notably, with mining and property shares leading the gains. In Hong Kong the benchmark Hang Seng rose by 409 points or 1.97% to 21,197, led by China Construction Bank after the lender said its new lending would increase more than 10% this year. CCB gained nearly 2% to close at a six-week high, extending its gains from the previous session.

In other Asian trading, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average of 225 companies ended up 2.1% at 10,585.92, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.9%, South Korea's Kospi gained 1.6%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced 2%, China's Shanghai Composite climbed 0.7% and Taiwan's Taiex was 1.3% higher.

South Korea's benchmark KOSPI closed 1.56% higher at 1,660, a one-month closing high, helped by strong buying by foreign investors. New Zealand's NZX-50 average rose by 9 points or a modest 0.29% to 3,223, its highest close since Jan 21. Elsewhere in Asia, Philippine shares gained 0.8% and New Zealand's NZX 50 finished 0.3% higher, with Indonesian stocks gaining 1.5% and Thailand's SET Index rising 0.1% in afternoon trading.

In India, the key benchmark indices pared gains as selling pressure emerged in mid-afternoon trade after a strong start. Political uncertainty weighed on the sentiment with Samajwadi Party and Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal on Monday deciding to withdraw support to the ruling UPA government. The BSE 30-share Sensex was up 96.53 points or 0.57% to 17,091.02, off 96.53 points from the day's high of 17,187.55. The Sensex had moved above the psychological 17,000 mark in opening trade on the back of positive global cues.

On Wall Street, stocks rallied on Friday, fueled by fairly impressive jobs data. The major averages rose over a percent each, with the Nasdaq reaching its best closing level in well over a year. A report from the U.S. Labor Department released Friday showed that the economy lost 36,000 jobs in February following a revised decrease of 26,000 jobs in January.

The report also revealed that the unemployment rate in February remained unchanged from the previous month at 9.7 percent. The unemployment rate had been expected to tick up to 9.8 percent.

Crude oil futures hit above $82 in the early Asian trades and currently trade at $81.86 per barrel, up 36 cents from the previous close. The COMEX Gold prices eased a bit though sentiments remained firmed and the commodity did not witnesses a steep drop as such. The April Gold futures are currently hovering at $1135, at the previous close only.