Asian stocks closed mostly higher on Thursday amid improving hopes for the United States subprime housing industry but prospects of a US recession continued to weigh on sentiment.

Wall Street closed slightly lower Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chair m a n B e n Bernanke said the US economy may contract in the first half, suggesting the world's biggest economy is already in recession.

However, investors in Asian trade largely shrugged off the remarks as a possible recession in the world's biggest economy has, to some extent, already been factored into the markets.

TOKYO: Japanese share prices closed up 1.52 percent at a one-month high, lifted by a weaker yen and hopes of an easing of the recent credit crunch on Wall Street.

The Nikkei-225 index rose 200.54 points to 13,389.90. Turnover rose to 2.072 billion shares from 2.067 billion Wednesday.

"With the help of easing credit concerns, the Nikkei ended above technically crucial levels. Also, trading volume is on a recovery trend, and this is worthy of attention," said Invcstrust technical analyst Hiroyuki Fukunaga.

MUMBAI: Indian share prices rose 0.52 percent shedding mom ing gains after European markets opened weak led by Wall Street losses overnight.

Dealers said sentiment however continued to be weighed down by local inflation concerns.

Ihe Mumbai Sensex rose 82.15 points to 15,832.55.

'The markets are likely to remain rangebound in the absence of overseas fund buying," said Hiten Mehta, a fund manager with Fortune Financial Services.

SHANGHAI: Chinese share prices closed 2.94 percent higher as bargain hunters snapped up oversold financials and large caps

aftcrastringofrecentslrarp losses.

Dealers said that investors picked up heavyweight financials and oil refiners ahead of the holiday weekend amid speculation the government may soon announce measures to resuscitate the ailing bourses.

The Shanghai Composite Index closed up 98.36 points at 3,446.24 on turnover of 66.4 bil lionyuan (9.5 billion USdollars).

HONG KONG: Hong Kong share prices closed higher, up 1.64 percent, as China financials and commodity stocks posted strong gains.

The 1 lang Seng index closed up 392.2 points at 24,264.63. Turnover was 91.5 billion Hong Kong dollars (11.8 billion US).

SINGAPORE: Singapore share prices closed 1.50 percent higher on investor interest in select blue chips.

Dealers said the market seemed to shrug off a warning from US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke that the US economy could slide into a recession during the first half of2008.