In Asia, the British insurer Prudential announced to buy AIA, the Asian arm of the US insurance giant American International Group (AIG), for an approximately US$ 35 billion. The details of the deal will be unveiled later. The combined group will be the leading life insurer in most of the Asian countries, including Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia, etc.
In Hong Kong, HSBC Holding Plc announced the full year results for the year ending 31 December. The Bank’s earnings, which increased to a US$ 5.83 billion from US$ 5.73 billion a year earlier, was worse-than-expected. Hang Seng Bank Ltd. though posted net income of HK$ 13.2 billion in 2009, it still disappointed the markets.
Copper jumped the most in 11 months after the earthquake in Chile over the concern of supply cut of the world’s largest copper producer Codelco. The Australian copper and gold producer Oz Minerals Ltd and Jiangxi Copper of Hong Kong both climbed over 5% in a day.
The belief of improving manufacturing and consumption figures in US also boosted the Asian markets. Hong Kong and China market closed higher, which was supported by the rose of resources firm. Hong Kong Hang Seng Index up 2.17% while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.18%. With the second round of talks for trade between China and Taiwan confirmed to be held on early March, the Taiwan Taiex Index rose 1.90%.
Other Asian markets also surged. Japanese stocks, the Nikkei 225 Index, increased by 0.45% due to the rise of resources sector. Singapore Straits Times Index gained 0.85% while Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Composite Index was up nearly 1%.
