Hainan Airlines, Air China and Shanghai Airlines up on support rumours
Despite large falls in some of Asia's stock markets on Friday, most airlines fared reasonably well.
The exception was Jet Airways, which fell back to earth after the previous day's surge on expectations of better economic conditions. Spicejet and Kingfisher were still suffering from the instability of the Indian aviation market.
China's airlines particularly made gains against the flow, on talk of government support and continuing merger rumours involving China Eastern and Shanghai Airlines.
AirAsia too was strongly supported. The market appears to be feeling more bullish after the carrier's reasonably positive outlook and last week's results.
Japan's overall market was hit by the yen's steep appreciation against the US dollar, with the Nikkei down 5.4%, to its lowest level since 7-Aug-07. Shanghai's Composite Index was down 2.3% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 1.4%, after earlier trading down more than 3%. Korea's Composite Index also fell 3.2%, after its largest ever fall on Thursday, of 6.9%.
Qantas failed to share the solid gains of its potential merger partner, British Airways, losing ground as doubts arose over the wisdom of the move.
Asia Pacific selected airlines daily share price movements (% change): 05-Dec-08
