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Autos push Tokyo to higher close
(CNN) -- Japanese stocks led Asian markets to a sharply higher close Tuesday as investors drew confidence from U.S. indicators. Big carmaker Toyota jumped 9 percent. The Nikkei 225 average ended more than 2.7 percent ahead, following a strong performance on Wall Street Monday that saw the tech-heavy Nasdaq finish at a 21-month high. Other markets in Asia were also stronger, with Singapore 1.86 percent higher. Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand all posted smaller gains. The Nikkei closed 2.73 percent higher to 10,847.97 -- its best gain in two months -- while the broader Topix index was up 2.55 percent to 1070.01. Markets in Tokyo were closed Monday for the Culture Day national holiday. The dollar is off four-week highs, trading in Tokyo at 110.28 yen late Tuesday after going as high as 111.46 Monday. The stronger dollar is pushing up Asian's biggest exporters, as confidence builds about the global economic outlook, particularly in the big U.S. market. In Tokyo, consumer electronics leader Sony ended 3.4 percent higher to 3960 yen, and Canon was up 3.5 percent to 5510 yen. Taking their cue from U.S. counterparts, Japan's tech-related issues surged higher, with Tokyo Electron up 9.1 percent to 8600 yen and Advantest 6.8 percent ahead to 8750 yen. Hitachi and NEC were both up about 5 percent, while Fujitsu and Toshiba posted gains of more than 2 percent. Big carmakers had some of the market's strongest gains, with Toyota up 9.27 percent to 3420 yen and Nissan ahead by 8.36 percent to 1335 yen. Honda ended 5 percent higher to 4560 yen. In the banking sector, there were modest gains for three big banks UFJ, SMFG and MTFG. Mizuho fell 1.1 percent to 266,000 yen. The market's biggest stock, mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo, ended 2.5 percent higher to 244,000 yen. Retail giant Ito-Yokao was 5.7 percent ahead to 4270 yen. In Seoul, the Kospi closed up 0.52 percent to 796.06, putting it at a 16-month high. Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics ended 1 percent ahead to 479,000 won, a record closing high. Leading exporter Hyundai Motor jumped almost 7 percent to 43,200 won, its best for the year. In the banking sector, Kookmin was up 1.57 percent to 45,250 won and Shinhan ended 2.3 percent higher to 17,750 won. Steelmaker POSCO rose 0.7 percent to 140,000 on good sales, boosted by China demand. In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 finished ahead 0.25 percent to 3264.7, led by a 2.5 percent gain for media group News Corp. to A$12.87. Resources giant BHP Billiton was up 0.5 percent to A$11.64. and Rio Tinto was ahead 1.4 percent to A$35.96. The Australian dollar has eased from six-year highs of 71.08 U.S. cents seen last week to be at 69.79 U.S. cents late Tuesday. In Taiwan, the Taiex finished 0.35 percent higher to 6108.99, with TSMC up 2.2 percent to T$68.50 and UMC 1.6 percent ahead to T$31.80. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended 0.44 percent higher to 12,440.72, its best since August 2001. Leading bank HSBC was unchanged at HK$119.00 and telco PCCW likewise gave up gains to close steady at HK$5.55. In Singapore, the Straits Times index is 1.86 percent higher to 1793.51. Big bank DBS surged 3.33 percent to S$15.50 and Singapore Airlines gained 4.1 percent to S$12.70 on renewed travel optimism. The moves in Asia followed a strong day on Wall Street Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average putting on 0.59 percent to 9858.46, a 17-month high. That was eclipsed by the 21-month high for the Nasdaq, which jumped 1.84 percent to 1967.70. (Full story)
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