Shares in Asia higher after China Markit PMI tick up, Greece talks eyed

Investing.com - Asian shares were higher Tuesday with Tokyo up smartly and Shanghai mildly recovering as events surrounding Greece's debt talks remained in focus and China manufacturing looked a bit better than excpected.

The Nikkei 225 rose 1.58% before the break, while the Shanghai Composite gained 0.80%. The Hang Seng index also rose - up 0.39% - in line with an uptick in China manufacturing reported by Markit.

The S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.20%.

Earlier, Greece's Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras told reporters late Monday that proposals submitted to creditors to resolve the country's immediate debt obligations are aimed at fairness and that they should be adopted.

"I will use a term the EU leaders are using: the ball is now on EU leadership court," he concluded.

He made the remarks after the Emergency Eurozone summit in Brussels, adding that deliberations will continue for "a few more days" in order to secure the best possible deal for Greece.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker earlier said Greece's proposals are a step in the right direction and that he was confident a deal could be finalized this week.

"I am convinced that we will come to a final agreement this week, for the simple reason that we have to find an agreement this week," he said. "We cannot play, as is said in football, for extra time any longer."

In China the June Markit Flash Manufacturing PMI rose to 49.6, better than May's final of 49.2 and the first without HSBC following the end of their distribution deal.

"The latest Flash China Manufacturing PMI survey provided a mixed bag of data in June," said Annabel Fiddes, Economist at Markit.

"On the one hand, the sector shows signs of improvement as output stabilized amid a slight pick up in total new work, while purchasing activity also rose slightly over the month. On the other hand, manufacturers continued to cut their staff numbers, with the latest reduction the sharpest in over six years. This suggests that companies have relatively muted growth expectations as demand conditions both at home and abroad remain relatively subdued. The data add to evidence that the sector has lost growth momentum in Q2 as a whole, and suggests that the authorities may step up their efforts to stimulate growth and job creation in the second half of the year."

In Australia, the first quarter housing price index rose 1.6%, below the quarter-on-quarter gain of 2.3% expected.

Overnight, U.S. stocks moved broadly higher on Monday as all three major indices rallied amid positive developments in longstanding Greek Debt talks.

Following one of its productive weeks in the last two months, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Composite index gained more than 0.5% on Monday. The NASDAQ Composite index, meanwhile, closed at an all-time record high, bolstered by gains in health care and consumer discretionary stocks. The Dow rose 103.83 or 0.58% to 18,119.78 on Monday, while the NASDAQ rose 36.97 or 0.72% to 5,153.97, eclipsing a previous record set last week.

The S&P 500 jumped 12.86 or 0.61% to 2,122.85, as nine of 10 sectors closed in the green. Of the 10 industries on the S&P, only Utilities closed lower on Monday, as yields on U.S. 10-Year Treasuries soared more than 10 basis points.