Asian shares higher after Bernanke speech

HONG KONG: Asian stock markets mostly rose on Monday after Wall Street strengthened on a much-anticipated speech by Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke at the end of last week.

Oil prices dipped meanwhile as energy demand was hit by the closure of refineries and airports as Hurricane Irene struck the US east coast.

While Bernanke offered no new stimulus proposals in his speech at a central bankers' conference Friday, traders were pleased that he left the door open for measures further down the line.

Tokyo gained 0.54 percent by the morning break, Hong Kong rose 1.08 percent and Sydney added 1.49 percent. Seoul climbed 2.32 percent and Taipei was 1.68 percent higher.

However, Shanghai fell 2.05 percent on concerns that inflation in China is still stubbornly high.

In his speech at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Bernanke said the Fed had a range of tools that could help the US economy, which it will review in an expanded meeting of the policy-making Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) in September.

The speech went down well on Wall Street, with the Dow rising 1.21 percent, the S&P 500 up 1.51 percent and the Nasdaq jumping 2.49 percent.

Bernanke also said that he expected second-half growth in the United States to improve after a virtually stagnant first six months.

"I'm pleased to see a sensible reaction in the market," Christopher Macdonald, principal investment adviser at RBS Morgans in Sydney, told Dow Jones Newswires.

"Bernanke seems to have put a floor under the market by implying that if we get any bad news or further dislocation in the markets, they will put something together in their next (FOMC) meeting," he said.

The dollar was weighed by the prospect of future monetary easing by the Fed, with the currency falling to 76.65 yen on Friday from 77.45 yen the day before.

However, it was holding firm in early Tokyo trade Monday, buying 76.73 yen.

The euro was worth $1.4480, slightly down from $1.4490 in New York late Friday. It was virtually flat at 111.10 yen.

The dollar rose to 0.8101 Swiss francs from 0.8063 francs. Along with the yen, the Swiss franc is considered another safe-haven currency and has soared during the recent market tumult, to the consternation of Swiss authorities.

On the oil market, New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, fell 13 cents to $85.24 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for October delivery sank 28 cents to $111.08.

Gold opened at $1,823.00-$1,824.00 an ounce in Hong Kong, up from Friday's close of $1,789.00-$1,790.00.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011