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 Across the region, Mumbai attacks - as well as the shutdown of Bangkok's airports by anti-government protesters, which entered its fourth day
- did little to dampen improving investor sentiment.
Instead, investors were hopeful that a raft of policy measures around the world, such as Washington's rescue of Citigroup Inc. and China's rate cut and multibillion dollar stimulus plan, would limit the scale of the global downturn next year.
"The market is reacting very calmly to the terrorist attack," said Francis Lun, general manager of Fulbright Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong. "Investors in Hong Kong are still fixated on China's huge reduction in interest rates. There's bargain-hunting across the board."
Traders will be closely watching indications of sales on Friday across the United States. The day after the Thanksgiving holiday is traditionally one of the biggest shopping days of the year. With the U.S. economic slump, the upcoming Christmas sales period is not expected to be particularly good for retailers.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 336.18 points, or 2.5 percent, to 13,888.24
- a gain of 9.7 percent for the week. Japan's Nikkei 225 index climbed 1.7 percent to 8,512.27
- an advance of 7.6 percent for the week.
Sentiment in Hong Kong was lifted by hopes that Wall Street would extend its four-day gain Friday after Thursday's holiday.
"Investors are having some wishful thinking that the U.S. stocks will continue to rise as market sentiments are improving," said Conita Hung, head of research at Delta Asia Securities in Hong Kong.
Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX200 index surged 4.3 percent, while South Korea's benchmark rose 1.2 percent.
Thai stocks also rose amid speculation that the intensifying political unrest could be resolved over the weekend. Protesters wanting to unseat the prime minister have taken over Bangkok's two main airports, disrupting travel and shipments around the region. The main SET index jumped 3.1 percent to 401.84.
The only major Asian market to decline was mainland China, where the Shanghai Composite index fell 2.4 percent. But the index rose 8.2 percent for the month of November, its biggest one-month gain in 15 months, driven by optimism about the government's stimulus package.
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 In early European trading, Britain's FTSE 100 index was down 0.3 percent at 4,212.62, while Germany's DAX was down 1.1 percent at 4,614.
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 2.9 percent Wednesday to 8,726.61, for its first four-day winning streak since April 15-18. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 3.5 percent to 887.68, its first four-day advance since May.
The rally came despite further poor news on the American economy. Figures showed durable goods orders in October slumped by a two-year high rate of 6.2 percent, new home sales at a 17-year low and consumer sentiment languishing at a 28-year low.
U.S. stock index futures were lower. Dow futures were down 26 points, or 0.3 percent, at 8,672, while S&P futures were down 2.8 points, or 0.3 percent, at 883.4.
Oil prices fell below $54 a barrel in Asia as investors eyed a possible production cut by OPEC this weekend amid a gloomy global demand outlook. Light, sweet crude for January delivery was down $1.24 to $53.20 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Singapore.
In currencies, the dollar dipped to 95.25 yen, while the euro slipped to $1.2865.
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AP writers Jeremiah Marquez in New Delhi, Dikky Sinn in Hong Kong, Stephen Wright in Bangkok and Tomoko A. Hosaka in Tokyo contributed to this report.
[Associated
Press; By MALCOLM FOSTER]
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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