(FT) -- Asian stocks got off to a strong start on Monday on hopes that the global economic recovery will gather pace in 2011.
The MSCI Asia Pacific index excluding Japan rose 0.8 per cent as it continued its longest winning streak since July. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index added 1.3 per cent, Singapore's Straits Times index gained 1.1 per cent and India's Sensex tacked on 0.7 per cent. Seoul's Kospi index gained 0.7 per cent to 2,066, it on track for a record close.
Markets in China, Japan, Australia, Thailand, New Zealand, and Vietnam were closed.
In Hong Kong, Hutchison Whampoa, the territory's best-performing blue chip last year, added 2.3 per cent on plans to buy several port and property assets from China Resources for HK$5.7bn. Foxconn International, the worst performer in Hong Kong last year, rose 3 per cent on bargain hunting.
New World Development, which gets 35 per cent of its revenue from China, added 2.5 per cent and Agile Property Holdings, a real estate developer in China, surged 4.2 per cent. China's manufacturing activity grew at the weakest pace in three months in December, raising the prospects that the government may not drastically tighten monetary policy to curb inflation.
In Taipei, financial shares received a boost from a local report that Taiwan's financial regulator would allow domestic funds to invest up to 30 per cent of their assets in China's stock markets, up from the current 10 per cent. Taiwan Life and Cosmos Bank both jumped 7 per cent, the daily limit, while China Life Insurance rose 3.9 per cent. CNN
