Asian stocks ended mostly higher in holiday-thinned trade Wednesday, with Hong Kong and Shanghai markets rebounding as investors looked past China’s rate increase Saturday to snap up banks and commodity shares.
Miners held Australian shares back as the market reopened for the first time after Beijing’s rate increase, though Tower Australia rocketed higher on a takeover bid from Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co.
Linus Yip, strategist at First Shanghai Securities, said that while markets in the U.S. and some parts of Asia hovered around two-year highs, Hong Kong and Shanghai stocks were lagging behind, setting the stage for a likely upsurge early in 2011. “The People’s Bank of China rate hike has cleared the uncertainty in the short term,” he said.
