Asian Stock Markets Remain Booming - 2003-06-14

Asian stock markets continued to thrive - 2003-06-14. Concerns about North Korea's nuclear programs and a case of financial misconduct by executives did not prevent the Seoul stock market from flourishing this week. On Friday, the KOSPI index showed an increase of over one percent, closing at 665 units, the highest in the past six months. This marks the fourth consecutive week of profitability for the KOSPI. Since March of last year, the stock table in this market has been declining, while it shows a 9 percent increase in value over the past four weeks. A financial fund manager at Credit Agricole in Hong Kong views the market boom as follows: "Some of it is due to the liquidity that has entered Korea with domestic and foreign currency, and perhaps partly due to optimism about the economic situation improving in the second half of the year. Although the economic recovery may not be very strong, it is still better than the first half or the second quarter of it." Meanwhile, on Friday, the head of Korea's third-largest conglomerate was sentenced to three years in prison for financial violations. For investors, this news indicates that economic management is becoming more transparent. The Nikkei 225 stock market in Japan also showed profit for the fourth consecutive week. This market started the weekend with a 2 percent increase, closing at 8980 units, the highest figure this year. Although the stock situation in Taiwan remained stable on Friday, it is still at 4881 due to the increase over the past four months. The stock price index in this market had a 3 percent increase compared to last week. The Hong Kong Hang Seng index also increased by one percent, reaching its five-month peak, showing a weekly increase of 1.6 percent with 9855 units.