AlQa'dah 10, 1434, Sep 16, 2013, SPA -- Asian stock markets rose Monday after economist Lawrence Summers withdrew as a candidate to head the Federal Reserve, a development that many investors believe will prolong the U.S. central bank's monetary stimulus, AP reported. The Fed's stimulus, which involves buying $85 billion a month in Treasurys and mortgage bonds, is certain to be scaled back once the economy recovers sufficiently. But many investors think the winding down will be slower without Summers as Fed chief. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.2 percent to 23,190.15. South Korea's Kospi advanced 0.7 percent to 2,009.09. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.5 percent to 5,247.30. Benchmarks in the Philippines, New Zealand, Thailand and India also rose. Markets in Japan were closed for a public holiday. China's Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.2 percent. Among individual stocks, Australian miner Lynas Corp. surged about 8 percent. Despite reporting Monday that its loss grew for the year, Lynas said it was in line to compete globally in rare earths minerals, a market dominated by China. Newcrest Mining rose 4.7 percent.
