Investing.com - Asian stocks advanced steadily Tuesday in early trade, encouraged by overnight gains on Wall Street, and hopes that a meeting of European leaders would move a step forward in addressing the region’s debt woes.
During early Asian trade, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index surged 3.3% to 20,260.10, Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index advanced 0.6% 9,136.31, and South Korea’s Kospi Index picked up 3.4% to 1,854.17.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200, dragged down by bank shares, bucked the regional trend, falling 0.16% to 4,275.80.
Along with the Nikkei, the broader-based Topix Index of all issues listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange added 0.6% to 781.92.
Earlier in the U.S. session, the market was greeted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s report that its index of manufacturing conditions worsened in August, falling 3.9 points to minus 7.7, following a minus 3.8 figure in July.
Economists had forecast that the Empire State manufacturing index, which measures economic health in the manufacturing sector by surveying about 200 manufacturers in New York State, to improve to minus 0.4.
But merger news helped lift U.S. stocks as Google Inc. secured a USD12.5 billion deal to acquire Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.
By the end of Thursday’s trading session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 4%, the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 4.7%, and the S&P 500 was lifted 4.6%.
Samsung Electronics Co., which runs Google’s Android operating system on its Galaxy mobile phones, jumped 3% in Seoul.
Australia’s Westpac Banking Corp. reported a 2% drop in profit for the third quarter. Westpac fell 4.1% in early trade.
In Tokyo, dealers reacted favorably to the release of gross domestic product figures over the weekend that showed Japan’s economy contracted by 0.3% in the quarter ending June. Economists forecasts were for Japan’s GDP to fall by twice that rate at 0.6%.
The Japanese economy contracted by 3.6% in the January to March quarter, the period during which the country was hit by a devastating earthquake and tsunamis.
Japanese automakers posted gains early, with Mazda Motor Corp, up by 1%, Nissan Motor Corp. added 1.1% and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. advanced by 2.4%.
Asian investors were expected to closely monitor talks scheduled for Tuesday in Paris between French President Nicholas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel who will meet to discuss details of a rescue fund to aid debt-threatened euro-zone countries.
The outlook for European stocks was positive. France’s CAC 40 futures was higher by 1.1% to 3,252.40, Britain’s FTSE 100 futures climbed 1% to 5,365, while Germany’s DAX futures picked up 0.7% to 6,053.60.