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To: StanX Long who wrote (58346)	1/2/2002 10:57:36 PM
From: StanX Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Asian stocks rally on rising chip prices By Joe Leahy in Hong Kong Published: January 2 2002 11:19 \| Last Updated: January 2 2002 11:32 markets.ft.com Semiconductor stocks led a new year rally on tech-heavy Asian markets on Wednesday, spurred by hopes of a recovery in depressed computer chip prices. Markets in South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore benefited from the tech gains, while Australia's resilient economy gave its stocks a boost. But Hong Kong tracked Wall Street's Monday late tumble to close lower. Sentiment in Asian markets in the coming days will be increasingly dominated by speculation over whether the US Federal Reserve will cut at its next meeting on January 31, said Han Ong, regional equities strategist with Salomon Smith Barney in Hong Kong. Rising liquidity supported rallies in regional markets during the final months of 2001 but now, with preliminary signs that the US economy may be bottoming, the rate cycle may begin to turn upwards. "We may therefore be coming fairly soon into a hiatus period during which liquidity will no longer sufficient to push markets up but before a rise in corporate earnings momentum can exert a pull," Mr Ong said. "It is quite probable that during this hiatus period markets will fall back." South Korea's benchmark Korea composite stock price index (Kospi) ended up 31.25 points, or 4.5 per cent, at 724.95 on Wednesday after Hynix Semiconductor, the world's third largest memory chipmaker, increased contract chip prices by an average 30 per cent, indicating a recovery in the sector was underway. Hynix shares rose 15 per cent to Won2,780 on the news while index bellwether Samsung Electronics, the world's largest memory chip maker, ended up 10.39 per cent at Won308,000. Hynix's announcement also spurred rises in technology stocks in Taiwan, with the main TAIEX index up 48.81 points, or 0.88 per cent, at 5,600.05. Memory chip maker Mosel Vitelic was up 4.7 per cent at T$17.80 while leading computer maker Acer was up 6.7 per cent at T$20.70. Singapore's Straits Times Index, meanwhile, recovered from a 1 per cent fall in earlier trade to end up 2.09 points, or 0.13 per cent, at 1,625.69. Technology stocks led the recovery, with Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, a leading chipmaker, up 3.06 per cent at S$5.05 per share while computer accessories maker Creative Technology closed up 3.38 per cent at S$15.30.