TOKYO
Japan's Nikkei stock index soared 4.55 per cent on Thursday to end at a six-month high, tracking gains on Wall Street as investors here returned from the Golden Week holiday.

The Nikkei rose 408.33 points to 9,385.70, the best finish since Nov 5.

'Worries over the US financial system have eased, at least for now,' said Hideaki Higashi, strategist at SMBC Friend Securities.

Wall Street notched up solid gains on Wednesday, helped by a better-than-expected survey of US private-sector job losses. Japanese markets were closed from Monday to Wednesday for public holidays.

HONG KONG
Hong Kong share prices closed 2.28 per cent higher on Thursday, as investor confidence remained high after a strong recent surge, dealers said.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index closed up 383.32 points at 17,217.89.

Turnover was 95.21 billion Hong Kong dollars (S$18 billio).

SHANGHAI
Chinese shares closed up 0.19 per cent on Thursday after Beijing said it planned to spend billions of dollars to upgrade technology in various industrial sectors, dealers said.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers A and B shares, was up 4.93 points at 2,597.45 on turnover of 175.0 billion yuan (S$37.5 billion).

The Shanghai A-share index gained 5.21 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 2,726.57 on turnover of 174.5 billion yuan, while the Shenzhen A-share index lost 5.65 points, or 0.61 per cent, to 924.85 on turnover of 93.9 billion yuan.

KUALA LUMPUR
Malaysian shares were flat on Thursday due to profit-taking in selected bluechips, dealers said.

The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index edged down 0.49 points to close at 1,023.47, although gainers outpaced decliners 467 to 280.

Dealers said trading was heavy with a volume of 3.36 billion shares - a 26- month high - worth 2.42 billion ringgit (691 million dollars).

'Profit taking in blue chips and index-linked issues outweighed gains in retail favoured penny stocks and small-caps,' one dealer told Dow Jones Newswires.

'Investors opted to lock in gains ahead of the official results from the US government's stress tests on banks,' the dealer added.

The dealer said the rise in volume 'clearly underscores bullish market sentiment but there is an equally strong possibility of a strong retracement on any negative leads from the US banking sector.' -- AFP, BERNAMA