What could be more disastorous for the markets already reeling from the U.S. market slowdown.But well, now China is under the attack of snowstorms worst in 50 years, halting production and resulting in rising prices of coal and zinc. The mining companies are the most benefitting at this time, with increased demand, this resulted in the rise of Asian stocks today. ``The transport bottlenecks in China may lead to a short- term spike in commodity prices and that will benefit some mining companies,'' said Mark Tan, who helps oversee $3 billion in Asian equities at UOB Asset Management in Singapore.China's CSI 300 Index slumped 1.1 percent to a six-month low.
Stocks in Hong Kong too rose but for a different reason, PetroChina Co. led gains among oil producers after Credit Suisse Group lifted its rating on the stock to "neutral".Credit Suisse raised its recommendation on PetroChina from ``underperform'' because ``PetroChina has defensive qualities,'' analysts at the brokerage including Prashant Gokhale said in a research report today. ``I'd prefer big caps to small caps because they're more defensive, for example, oil-related and telecom stocks,'' said Mona Chung, a portfolio manager at Daiwa Asset Management Ltd. in Hong Kong.The Hang Seng Index added 667.84, or 2.9 percent, to 24,123.58. The gauge lost 4 percent this week, its fourth straight weekly decline.
On the other hand, there was fall seen in the Japanese stocks after banks reported lower earnings due to losses on subprime mortgage investments. Added to this, Sony Corp.cut its profit forecast on the stronger yen and worsening demand in the U.S. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost 95.31, or 0.7 percent, to 13,497.16 at the close in Tokyo after rising as much as 0.4 percent. The Topix index slid 9.45, or 0.7 percent, to 1,336.86, reversing a gain of as much as 0.7 percent.
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