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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: StanX Long who wrote (62385)	3/27/2002 5:03:12 AM
From: StanX Long	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

Asian stocks cheer U.S. confidence data Wednesday March 27, 2:52 PM By Richard Baum sg.news.yahoo.com SINGAPORE, March 27 (Reuters) - Major Asian stock markets scored their first broad rally of the week on Wednesday, breaking a four-day losing streak in Tokyo and notching up a two-year closing high in Seoul, though Taiwan and smaller bourses slid. The dollar was a fraction weaker against the yen as Japanese exporters converted foreign currency before the end of the financial year on Friday, while oil hit a fresh six-month peak. Lifting shares in several markets was news that U.S. consumer confidence surged in March on improved job prospects and a better business climate. That bolstered hopes for a recovery in spending in the United States, the main market for Asia's many export-dependent economies. "Sentiment has improved somewhat on the back of the U.S. consumer data, and even though this recovery will take some time to feed into corporate earnings, we do eventually expect a rebound, especially among export-oriented companies," said Y.K. Chan, investment strategist at CEF Securities in Hong Kong. The territory's benchmark Hang Seng Index <.HSI> was up 0.90 percent at 10,883.51 by 0645 GMT. Tokyo stocks were led higher by blue-chip exporters such as TDK Corp <6762.T> on the signs of strength in the U.S. economy. The benchmark Nikkei average <.N225> closed up 1.03 percent or 115.76 points at 11,323.68. TDK, the world's top maker of magnetic heads for hard disk drives, rose 5.13 percent. Another big winner was NTT DoCoMo <9437.T>, Japan's dominant mobile phone carrier and its biggest issue by market capitalisation, which gained 4.2 percent. SAMSUNG LEADS SEOUL SURGE