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Xinhua summary of Asia-Pacific stocks news at 1100 GMT, March 19

Xinhua, March 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

Seoul shares ended higher on Thursday.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose 9. 44 points, or 0.47 percent, to 2,037.89 at the close. Trading volume stood at 445.17 million shares worth 5.56 trillion won (4. 98 billion U.S. dollars).

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TOKYO -- Tokyo stocks ended lower Thursday as investors cashed in recent gains after Nikkei hit near 15-year high, as well as a firm yen that weighed on export-oriented issues. The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average lost 67.92 points, or 0.35 percent, Wednesday to end at 19,476.56.

The turnover was about 2,945.3 billion yen (about 24.44 billion U.S. dollars).

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SYDNEY -- The Australian share market was up nearly 2 percent on Thursday, posting its biggest rally in a month driven by talk of another central bank interest rate cut.

At the official market close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index had rallied 108.5 points, or 1.86 percent, to 5,950.8, while the broader All Ordinaries index had surged 104.5 points, or 1.8 percent, to 5,912.5. (Australia-Stocks)

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TAIPEI -- Taiwan's share prices closed up 0.86 percent Thursday with the weighted index up 83.3 points at 9,736.73, according to news reaching here from Taipei.

Turnover totaled 116.75 billion new Taiwan dollars (3.71 billion U.S. dollars) during the trading session.

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MANILA -- Philippine shares closed 0.75 percent higher on Thursday. The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index increased by 57.97 points to 7814.55. The all-share index went up by 18.59 points,or 0.41 percent, to 4520.78.

Trading volume reached 1.00 billion shares worth 9.16 billion pesos (204.96 million U.S. dollars).

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HONG KONG -- Hong Kong stocks moved up 348.81 points, or 1.45 percent, to close on Thursday at 24,468.89 points.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index traded between 24,248.84 and 24, 500.23. Turnover totaled 102.57 billion HK dollars (about 13.22 billion U.S. dollars).

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BEIJING -- Chinese stocks closed mixed on Thursday, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index up 0.14 percent to finish at 3, 582.27 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index went down 0.54 percent to close at 12,429.11 points.

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HO CHI MINH CITY -- VN-Index, the stock market index of Ho Chi Minh (HCM) City bourse in southern Vietnam,closed at 573.74 points on Thursday, down 4.94 points, or 0.85 percent, against the previous trading day's closing session.

About 84.526 million shares worth 1.463 trillion Vietnamese dong (VND) (68.21 million U.S. dollars) changed hands at the southern HCM City Stock Exchange. Prices of 79 stocks went up, 124 stocks fell down, while 83 stocks remained unchanged.

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HANOI -- Stock market index of Vietnam's capital Hanoi, HNX- Index, closed at 84.6 points on Thursday, down 0.45 points, or 0. 53 percent, against the previous trading session.

A total of over 47.829 million shares worth some 582.881 billion Vietnamese dong (around 27.3 million U.S. dollars) were traded at the Hanoi Stock Exchange on Thursday, an increase of 4. 53 percent in volume and a decrease of 12.74 percent in value against the previous trading session.

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DHAKA -- Bangladesh's DSE (Dhaka Stock Exchange) Broad Index closed Monday at 4,468.02 points, down 25.21 points or about 0.57 percent from Thursday's finish.

Among a total of 301 issues traded, 178 registered gains and 95 incurred losses while 33 remained unchanged.

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SINGAPORE -- Singapore stocks finished higher on Thursday, with the benchmark Straits Times Index (STI) up 24.41 points, or 0.73 percent, to close at 3,386.16.

A total of 1.2 billion shares changed hands with turnover of 1. 18 billion Singapore dollars (852.6 million U.S. dollars).

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KUALA LUMPUR -- The Malaysian stock market ended higher here on Thursday. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index (KLCI) was at 1,809.13 up 11.56 points or 0.64 percent, and the Emas was at 12,408.60 up 72.31 points or 0.58 percent.

Turnover declined to 2.21 billion shares valued at 1.85 billion ringgit Malaysia(498.92 million U.S. dollars), compared with 2.13 billion shares valued at 1.87 billion ringgit Malaysia (504.18 million U.S. dollars) on Wednesday.

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JAKARTA -- Indonesian shares closed up 40.70 points, or 0.75 percent, at 5,453.85.15 on Thursday.

Some 247,033 transactions were booked, involving 6.66 billion shares worth 6.85 trillion rupiah (about 526.45 million U.S. dollars).

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BANGKOK -- The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index Thursday moved up 0.63 points, or 0.04 percent to close at 1,531.50 points.

Some 8.93 billion shares worth 38.59 billion baht (about 1.18 billion U.S. dollars) changed hands. Endi