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Asia closes with strong run
(CNN) -- Asian markets closed broadly higher Thursday, led by a surge in exporters and tech-oriented stocks. Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong were all up more than 2 percent. Makers of cars and consumer electronics found favor with investors. Japan's big banks also posted solid gains on the strength of a tax refund agreement. Thursday's rise in Asia came after a rebound on Wall Street, following a report that the U.S. manufacturing sector is continuing to expand. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 average put on 2.24 percent to close at 10,593.53, near its high for the day. That followed its 1.4 percent gain on Wednesday. The broader Topix index did even better, jumping 2.65 percent to 1057.24. It rose 1.1 percent on Wednesday. On the currency front, the dollar is trading at 110.95 yen late on Thursday in Tokyo, up from the low of 110.10 seen on Tuesday. Traders say the Bank of Japan intervened in the morning to keep the yen from strengthening. Elsewhere in the region, Taiwan's Taiex posted a gain of 2.12 percent to 5699.86. Its biggest stock, tech leader TSMC, jumped 3 percent to T$68.50. Hong Kong's market was up sharply after Wednesday's holiday, with the Hang Seng index finishing 2.82 percent ahead to 11,546.12. In South Korea, the Kospi ended 1.55 percent higher at 715.24, while in Australia the S&P/ASX200 was up 1.27 percent. New Zealand showed a more modest rise of 0.26 percent. Singapore's Straits Times index closed 0.89 percent ahead at 1644 points. The moves in Asia followed a strong performance on Wall Street, where a broad rally Wednesday helped ease concerns over Japan's export-led recovery. The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed 2.5 percent higher and the Dow added more than 2 percent. (Full story) In Japan's auto sector, Nissan closed up 2.9 percent to 1237 yen, Toyota was 1.5 percent higher to 3390 yen and Honda put on 2.2 percent to 4510 yen. Consumer electronics leader Sony finished 1.5 percent higher to 3900 yen, Toshiba was up 3.6 percent to 485 yen and there were solid rises for Fujitsu, Hitachi and NEC. Among banks, UFJ was up another 3.5 percent to 506,000 yen and Mizuho ended about 2.8 percent ahead to 298,000 yen after the banks ratified a tax refund deal with the Tokyo metropolitan government. (Full story) SMFG and MTFG also rose. Big insurer Millea surged 14.5 percent higher to 1.42 million yen. The market's biggest stock, mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo rose 4.5 percent to 279,000 yen. In South Korea, market heavyweight Samsung Electronics closed 2.1 percent ahead to 408,500 won and big exporter Hyundai Motor finished up 3 percent to 34,550 won. Leading bank Shinhan was almost 1 percent higher. In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 finished at 3199.4, a gain of 1.27 percent. The market's biggest stock, media group News Corp, led the way with a gain of 2.5 percent to A$12.09. Resources leader BHP Billiton was also 2.3 percent higher to A$10.48. Infrastructure investor Macquarie Bank was up 1.4 percent to a 20-month high of A$35.00 after unveiling a $635 million water deal in the UK. (Full story) In Taiwan, chip foundry UMC was up almost 5.5 percent to T$29.20 as part of a broad tech rally. In the financial sector, Fubon was up 3.6 percent and Chinatrust finished 3.1 percent higher. In Hong Kong, conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa ended 2.2 percent ahead to HK$57.75. Big bank HSBC was up 1.9 percent and telcos China Mobile and PCCW likewise posted gains of around 2 percent each. Singapore's Straits Times index is at 1651.82, with big bank DBS up 3 percent to S$13.40. Singapore Airlines is 1.9 percent higher and SingTel is up 0.6 percent.
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