Most Asian markets ended higher Monday, spurred by hopes for a steep U.S. interest rate cut and after the Bush administration said it would step in to prevent a failure of U.S. automakers.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 428.8 points or 5.2% at 8,664.66 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 2.0% to 15,046.
The Tankan survey, released before the market opened today, showed that business confidence among major Japanese manufacturers marked the steepest fall since February 1975 in the last three months from the previous quarter, reinforcing the view that the world's second-largest economy is in for a deep and prolonged recession. In its quarterly survey of corporate sentiment, the Bank of Japan said that the key index for large manufacturers dropped 21 points to minus 24, the lowest level since March 2002. The 21-point fall in the main index over a three-month period was the largest in 34 years.
Among automakers, Toyota Motor jumped 9.8%, Honda Motor gained 8.5%, Nissan Motor advanced 7.5%, Denso climbed 8.5%, and Calsonic Kansei rose 7.1%. Shipper Mitsui OSK surged up 10.2% and Nippon Yusen KK rose 4.2%. Exporters were higher, with Canon advancing 6.0% and Sony advancing 4.3%.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group surged 7.7%, Mizuho Financial Group advanced 4.5% and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group rose 4.1%.
Oil and gas miner Inpex Holdings fell 1.2%, but Nippon Mining Holding soared 9.8%. Among other commodity-related stocks, Mitsubishi Corp climbed 5.3% and Mitsui & Co. jumped 6.0%.
Bucking the overall market trend, Sharp fell 0.5% after J.P.Morgan slashed its earnings estimate on the LCD panel and LCD TV maker by more than a third due to falling flat panel display prices.
CHINA
The Chinese stock market closed higher, as government moves to boost the economy outweighed data showing that growth in factory output had fallen to its lowest level in nearly seven years. Strong gains across Asia on renewed hopes for a bailout for the U.S. auto industry also added to the positive sentiment. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 10.16 points or 0.5% to 1,964.37 and the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index rose 1.0% to 590.36.
China's industrial output rose 5.4% in November year-over-year, down from October's 8.25 growth, according to a government report. It was the slowest annual increase since February 2002. Meanwhile, China announced during the weekend that it would increase its money supply by 17% next year to boost consumer spending and insulate the country from the global downturn. Officials also vowed to stabilize the country's jittery capital markets.
Telecoms extended gains after the industry minister said Friday that the government would issue 3G mobile phone licenses as early as this month. ZTE Corp. advanced 3.9% and China United Telecom climbed 1.3%.
Medical and pharmaceutical stocks also posted strong gains. Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical gained 4.4% and Shandong Xinhua Pharmaceutical rose 3.0%.
Airlines finished lower. Air China sank 9.1%, China Eastern Airlines tumbled 8.6% and China Southern Airlines dropped 7.9%.
Index heavyweight PetroChina slipped 0.4%, but oil refiner Sinopec gained 0.3%. In the banking space, China Merchants Bank fell 0.4%, while Bank of China ended flat.
Elsewhere:
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index or KOSPI closed up 54.4 points or 4.9% at 1,158.2.
Taiwan's Taiex added 3.0% to 4,613.
Singapore's STI closed up 2.0% at 1,774.
Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index jumped 7.6% to 1,359.
Malaysia's KLCI closed down 5.8 points at 846.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 2.3% to 3,591.40.
New Zealand's NZX 50 index ended little changed at 2,676.43.
with files from other wire services
