Asian stocks soar

TOKYO, Sept 8 (AP) Asian stock markets soared Monday after Washington announced a bailout of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - a move that could help bolster a shaky US housing market and renew global investor confidence.brJapan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index was up more than 414 points, or 3.40 per cent, at 12,627.07 in afternoon trading in Tokyo.brSeoul's Kospi index was up 5.40 per cent, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index surged 3.90 per cent and Singapore's Straits Times Index jumped 3.90 per cent. Key indexes in Australia and Taiwan were also higher.brThe US Treasury's decision Sunday to place the two companies, which own or guarantee about half of US mortgage debt, into a conservatorship removes a big cloud that had been weighing on global markets.brI think what the American authorities have done, in the brief look I've had, it is the right thing, said Glenn Stevens, the head of Australia's central bank, at an appearance before a parliamentary committee in the southern city of Melbourne.brTheir implications are likely to be positive for markets because it's a source of uncertainty close to resolution, he said.brUS futures signalled that Wall Street was poised to advance Monday as well. The Standard & Poor's futures index was up more than 2.0 per cent.brJapanese officials also hailed Washington's bailout.brWe welcome the plan as an appropriate measure as it is believed to contribute to stabilising the financial markets, Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura was quoted as saying by Kyodo News.brJacky Choi, a Hong Kong-based fund manager at Value Partners Ltd., which manages about $5.0 billion in Asia, said the US move comes as a relief to the many Asian governments and institutions with the mortgage giants' debt on their books.brHe added, however, that Monday's surge in equities didn't necessarily foreshadow a broader turnaround and noted that trading volumes weren't very large in some markets. Many investors were still hesitant to place long-term bets, he said.brThere's not really a sentiment change. People are still reluctant, Choi said. It takes time for sentiment to recover in a market like this.brFor now, the news injected life into recently listless banking names, with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia up 5.90 per cent and National Australia Bank 7.80 per cent higher.