S. Korea leads Asian stocks higher


Japanese exporters such as Sony are sharply higher Tuesday, benefiting from a weaker yen

Staff and wires

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Asian stocks are broadly higher heading into Tuesday afternoon, with South Korea and Australia the strongest gainers.

Tokyo's Nikkei broke for lunch up 0.8 percent. South Korean stocks are racing up more than 2.5 percent.

Hong Kong is 1.4 percent higher, with Taiwan up 1.15 percent. Singapore and New Zealand are making smaller gains of less than 1 percent.

The rebound in Asia follows a rally on Wall Street Monday which saw both the Dow Jones industrial average and the Nasdaq put on more than 2.4 percent.(Full Story)

A weaker yen is also boosting big Japanese exporters such as automakers and consumer-electronics companies.

The dollar is trading at about 118.9 yen in Asian trade at midday.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 average finished the morning session up 0.82 percent or 78.30 points at 9,677.40, off a morning high of 9,743.10.

The broader capital-weighted Topix ended the morning 0.48 percent higher at 948.93. Both are trimming those gains slightly as the afternoon session sets off.

Kospi leads the way


South Korea is the big mover in the region, with the Kospi up about 3 percent

The big mover in the region is South Korea, where the Kospi rose more than 3 percent in morning trade. Shortly after noon, it's up 2.86 percent at 738.10.

Seoul's biggest stock, chipmaker Samsung Electronics, is 3 percent higher at 343,000 won. Its smaller rival, Hynix Semiconductor is up 8.7 percent to 625 won.

SK Telecom, the mobile phone leader and a favorite of overseas investors, has put on 2 percent to 237,500 won. Steelmaker Posco is 3.13 percent higher.

Hana Bank is again higher, up 1.66 percent, after it won the nod Monday to take over SeoulBank (full story).

News Corp. stronger


Australia's market is about 1 percent higher, with News Corp and resources stocks leading the way

In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 is up 0.91 percent to 3,176.7 in early afternoon.

Market heavyweight News Corp. is 2.55 percent firmer at A$10.85. Resources leaders BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are both up about 2.5 percent.

Big banks NAB, CBA and ANZ are mildly firmer. Qantas, which is due to report its results Wednesday, is in a trading halt at A$4.69, up 0.86 percent on Monday's close.

In Tokyo, big exporter Sony is sharply higher, up 2.93 percent to 5,270 yen, as the sector gets a boost from both Wall Street and the stronger dollar.

Canon is doing even better, up 4 percent to 4,330 yen. Fujitsu has put on 3 percent, Toshiba is up 2.4 percent and Hitachi is 1.5 percent higher.

In the tech sector, Tokyo Electron has surged 6.79 percent to 5,660 yen.

The Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan said Monday that sales of Japanese chip and display-making equipment are expected to climb 8.8 percent in the year to next March.

Yen helps exporters

Auto stocks are also higher on the back of a weaker yen. Honda is up 3.56 percent to 4950 yen, Nissan has added 1.88 percent to 867 yen and No. 1 maker Toyota is 2.3 percent higher at 2890 yen.

Big banks are mainly steady. In the telecom sector, NTT DoCoMo is 1.6 percent higher at 257,000 yen.

In Taiwan, the Taiex is up 1.15 percent to 4,944.08.

Chip foundry TSMC is almost 2 percent higher at T$54.50. Both techs and industrials have made broad advances.

In Singapore, the Straits Times index is up a third of a percent to 1538.14 in late morning trade. SingTel continues to gain, as does Creative Technology. Big banks DBS and OCBC are steady.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index has gained about 1.5 percent in late morning trade . Banking leader HSBC is 1.66 percent higher at HK$91.75.

Stocks are shaking off the release of a new record jobless rate. The government said after the end of trade Monday that rate reached 7.8 percent for the May-July period (full story).

Reuters contributed to this report.