Asian markets recover (MarketWatch) (18-06-2008)

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Asian shares continued to gain on Wednesday, as the resource sector supported resource sensitive shares.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 climbed 0.8% in the late afternoon while the Topix index was up 0.5%.

China's Shanghai Composite reversed a more than 2% deficit to close higher by 5.2% at 2,941.12. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 0.6% to 23,203.82.

Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.2% at 5,434.20, South Korea's Kospi Composite index firmed 0.6% to 1,761.71, and New Zealand's NZX-50 eased 0.7% to 3,382.99.

Taiwan's Weighted Price Index climbed 0.5%, Singapore's Straits Times Index added 0.4%, and Indonesia's JSX Composite gained 0.4%.

Among markets trading on a weaker note, Thailand's SET fell 1.2%, Malaysia's KLSE Composite gave up 1.2% and India's Bombay Sensex retreated 0.3%.

Shanghai-listed shares of Sinopec climbed as much as 4.4% amid speculation Beijing will hike domestic fuel prices.

Shares of Commonwealth Bank fell 1.5%, while National Australia Bank retreated 1.6% and Macquarie Group climbed 3%.

Australian investment firm Babcock & Brown Ltd. saw its shares jump 16% as investors judged last week's 50% decline amid debt concern overdone.

Shares of mainland airlines Air China, China Southern Airlines Co. and China Eastern Airlines were up 2.1%, 0.3%, and 1.9% respectively after newswires reported the carriers will each operate four round-trip flights to Taiwan a week as part of the historic direct-air-links agreement signed Friday.

.

  Source MarketWatch