Hong Kong - Hong Kong stocks continued their surge Friday, rallying for a third straight session as mainland investors flooded into the market, while Tokyo dipped after breaching the 20,000 point mark for the first time in 15 years.
Regional markets were mostly higher after a positive lead from Wall Street, while better-than-forecast Chinese inflation figures also provided strong support.
Tokyo's Nikkei dipped 0.15 percent after earlier breaking 20,000 -- a level not seen since April 2000. The index finished 30.09 points down at 19,907.63
Hong Kong added 1.22 percent, or 328.00 points, to 27,272.39. The index climbed more than eight percent over the past three days.
Shanghai, which has almost doubled over the past year on hopes for fresh stimulus, rallied 1.94 percent, or 76.78 points, to end at 4,034.31, its best close since March 2008.
Sydney added 0.61 percent, or 36.15 points, to 5,968.37 and Seoul surged 1.40 percent, or 28.89 points, to 2,087.76.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index has rocketed since reopening Wednesday after the long holiday weekend, with traders in the mainland making the most of a link-up between the index and Shanghai's exchange.
Turnover hit record highs on each of the past two days as investors north of the border sought out relatively cheap stocks after a surge in Shanghai that has been fuelled by hopes for stimulus to the world's number two economy.
While the stock connect programme was initially met with little interest, mainland authorities' decision last month to expand the number of fund-management firms allowed to buy in Hong Kong has seen activity surge.
But analysts have warned of a snap-back.
"This phenomenon of a large amount of money pushing into a space in the market in such a short period of time is exaggerating moves," Tim Schroeders, a portfolio manager at Pengana Capital in Melbourne, told Bloomberg News.
"It looks highly speculative and prone to a correction at some stage. There seems to be a lot of speculation fuelling fund flows in terms of policy stimulus from China which may or may not happen."
In other markets:
-- Taipei rose 0.52 percent, or 49.66 points, to 9,617.70.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. rose 2.8 percent to Tw$147.0 while smartphone maker HTC fell 1.11 percent to Tw$133.5.
-- Wellington was flat, nudging up 0.19 points to 5,847.35.
Fletcher Building was up 0.12 percent at NZ$8.25 with Contact Energy down 0.17 percent at NZ$5.94.
-- Manila added 0.93 percent, or 74.79 points, to 8,127.48.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone gained 0.82 percent to 2,964 pesos and Ayala Land was up 1.75 percent at 40.70 pesos, while Universal Robina retreated 2.37 percent to 222 pesos.
AFP
