AP: Asian Markets Close Higher As Oil Nears 4-Year Low
Tokyo, Japan (AHN) - Shares of Asian markets rebounded and closed higher on Friday, erasing some of the losses incurred in the last four trading sessions, led by reports that lower crude rates would help ease costs and boost consumer confidence.
The investors in the region continued to trade cautiously ahead of jobs report due to be released on Friday in the U.S. Oil continued to trade lower after falling below $44-a-barrel mark, indicating that the U.S. recession will trail into 2009 on lower consumer spending.
A light sweet crude-oil futures for January delivery was moving up by 24 cents at $43.91 a barrel in Singapore's electronic trading on Friday. The prices are headed towards the bigest weekly drop since March 2003.
The market analysts are projecting that oil prices is likely to fall below $25 a barrel next year and gas prices could drop lower than $1 in most regions of the markets as the recession expands to China.
Merrill Lynch Commodity Strategist Francisco Blanch, an energy analyst and CEO, said in a report on Thursday that demand is expected to consistently fall next year as slowdown in economy continues.
On Thursday, the contract for January delivery plunged in New York and closed down by $3.12, or 6.7 percent, to $43.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
In currency trading, the yen fell back as it changed hands at 95.19 yen per U.S. dollar in Asia on Friday, after it closed at 92.22 yen per dollar late Thursday in New York.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 average closed down by 6.73 points or 0.08 percent at 7,917.51 points, and the broader Topix index closed 0.4 percent lower to 786.02 points.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index closed higher by 336.31 points or 2.49 percent at 13,846.09 points, and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index, also finished 2.8 percent higher at 7,428.54 points.
Shares of HSBC Holdings PLC, which got 26 percent of its 2007 revenue in North America, gained by 3.6 percent, followed by China Life gaining 5.9 percent in Hong Kong markets.
Cnooc, which is China's largest oil and gas explorer led the market higher, moved down by 1.5 percent after crude slumped overnight in New York.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index finished lower by 1.2 percent at 3,489.9 points in Sydney led by the shares of major resources companies of the country.
In the mining sector, shares of BHP Billiton, the world's biggest miner, slipped by as much as 4.9 percent and Rio Tinto moved down by 1.5 percent. Woodside Petroleum dipped by 2.1 percent in Sydney.
In China, the Shanghai composite index closed higher by 0.9 percent at 2,018.656 points.
Elsewhere, South Korea's Kospi recovered from a drop and closed higher by 2.21 percent to 1,028.13 points in Seoul, while Taiwan's Taiex index closed down by 0.7 percent to 4,225.07. India's Sensitive Index was moving lower by 1.2 percent to 9,118.99 points in late trading session.
