Asia soars after Wall Street's big jump


Sony and other leading exporters are among the big gainers in Tokyo stocks on Tuesday

Staff and wires

TOKYO, Japan -- Asian stocks are soaring Tuesday afternoon, building on the previous day's gains and the massive rebound on Wall Street.

Japan is leading the way, with the Nikkei 225 average at one point breaking through the 10,000 point barrier before finishing the morning session 3 percent higher at 9960.36.

The broader capital-weighted Topix is almost 2.3 percent higher, up 21.84 points to 973.75.

Consumer electronics exporters Sony and Canon are up more than 4 percent and 6 percent respectively.

Automaker Nissan has surged 8.5 percent after it said it would revive its Z-series sportscar. No. 1 maker Toyota is up almost 5 percent to 2915 yen.

Japan's big banks and telcos are also firmer. The market mood is more confident, despite government figures showing Japan's jobless rate remained unchanged in June at 5.4 percent, near December's record rate of 5.5 percent (Full Story).

South Korea, Australia stronger


Japan's jobless rate was unchanged in June at 5.4 percent

Other markets in the region are showing strong gains, with South Korea's Kospi up 3.9 percent, the S&P/ASX200 in Australia 1.5 percent higher at 3080.5 and Taiwan's Taiex adding 2.4 percent to 4976.22.

Singapore is 1.5 percent higher and New Zealand is up just over 1 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index opened 2.5 percent stronger at 10,227.98.

Tuesday's resilient performance suggests investors in Asia are taking heart from Wall Street, where the mood is more upbeat after Monday's massive gains(Full U.S. roundup).

The Dow Jones industrial average notched its third-largest point gain, jumping 447.49 points or 5.41 percent to 8,711.88.

The Nasdaq Composite Index soared 73.13 points or 5.79 percent to 1,335.25, registering its biggest percentage gain in nearly 10 months.

"U.S. stocks finally appear to be bottoming out, and the yen is coming back to reasonable levels for Japanese exporters. I'd say that's a pretty good signal to buy," Minoru Tada, senior managing officer at Japan's World Nichiei Securities, told Reuters news agency.

Yen rate at 120

The U.S. rally lifted the dollar to a three-week high above 120 yen, giving Japanese exporters a boost by reducing the price of their products overseas.

In Seoul, where the Kospi has jumped to 728.63, market heavyweight Samsung Electronics is 3.85 percent higher at 337,500 won. SK Telecom is up about 3.9 percent to 238,000 won.

Hynix Semiconductor, noted for its volatile performance recently, is up by the daily limit to 585 won, a gain of 14.7 percent.

In Australia, media group News Corp is helping lift the index higher. News, which accounts for about 9 percent of the market's weighting, is up 57 cents or 6.4 percent to A$9.45.

News is sensitive to the U.S. economy, where it earns most of its revenue.

Resources leader Rio Tinto is almost 3 percent higher at A$33.26. Big banks NAB, CBA, ANZ and Westpac are all up strongly.

AurionGold, which won a cash sweetener Monday from potential buyer Placer Dome, is up 5.9 percent to A$3.05(Full Story).

In Hong Kong, one of the Asian markets most sensitive to the U.S. economy, bluechips are broadly stronger.

Bank leader HSBC is up 2 percent to HK$88.75, property player Cheung Kong Holdings has put on 4.13 percent to HK$63.00 and mobile phone giant China Mobile is more than 3.4 percent higher at HK$21.10.

Singapore's main banks, DBS, OCBC and UOB are all firmer, as is SingTel.

In Taiwan, industrials and tech issues alike are stronger. Asia Cement is up 3.3 percent, chip foundry TSMC is up 2 percent and its smaller rival UMC is 2.8 percent higher at T$32.70.

Quanta Computer is almost 7 percent firmer at T$85.00.