Prices Soar on Asian Markets; Key Tokyo Index Up 4%

TOKYO — Share prices shot up on Far East markets today as jumpy investors heaved a sigh of relief that the weekend had passed without a conflagration in the Persian Gulf.

The giant Tokyo market led the stocks charge, with the 225-share Nikkei average rising 936 points, about 4%, to end the day at 25,141.76.

It was the ninth-biggest one-day point gain, mainly on technical buying in thin trading after the plunges of last week.

Bargain-hunters picked off shares seen as undervalued or oversold, although big investors, still spooked by Middle East fears, kept their powder dry. Turnover was about 330 million shares against 550 million Friday.

Brokers generally forecast fairly wide fluctuations throughout this week, with some predicting the Nikkei would stabilize by Friday around 24,000.

Except for Hong Kong and Manila, both closed for holidays, other regional markets all headed higher.

News of the Nikkei’s rise, and reports that a group of U.S. diplomatic dependents from Iraq had arrived safely in Turkey, sent Taipei’s main stock index soaring 6.75% to close at 3,378.50.

Australia’s All Ordinaries index gained nearly eight points to close at 1,477.3.

In Singapore, share prices bounced back sharply during the morning on bargain-hunting after recent steep losses. The Straits Times Industrial Index gained 3.5% to end the day at 1,198.23.

Again brokers cited Persian Gulf developments--news of an attempt to settle the Middle East crisis by diplomatic means--and the Tokyo gains as directing market sentiment.

It was further helped by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s announcement that the government planned to invest in the stock exchanges of Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia and had invited those countries to invest in Singapore.