Several Asian stock indexes rose 3% or more Monday, with financials leading a rally as investors awaited U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner's plan to stabilize U.S. banks.
Energy stocks provided additional thrust as crude-oil prices held above $52 U.S. a barrel.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 Index leaped 269.57 points, or 3.4% to 8,215.53, after returning from a long holiday weekend.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index catapulted itself 613.91 points, or 4.8%, higher to 13,447.02
Optimism carried over into currency trading, where investors sold the Japanese yen, perceived as a safe-haven currency, in favor of those deemed more risky.
The euro was higher at $1.3681, from $1.3560 late in New York on Friday. Against the yen it rose to 131.34 yen, from 130.07 yen on Friday, for its highest level since Oct. 21.
The U.S. dollar was higher at 96.06 yen, from 95.90 yen on Friday.
Geithner was due to unveil details at 8:45 a.m. Eastern Time for a new investment fund to buy mortgage-related securities and other assets weighing down bank balance sheets.
He told the Wall Street Journal that the program envisioned the creation of a series of public-private investments to soak up $500 billion U.S., and maybe as much as $1 trillion U.S., in troubled loans and securities. To encourage investors to buy those assets, the government would offer lucrative subsidies and shoulder much of the risk.
But some analysts said markets are setting themselves up for a decline once the plan is detailed in full.
Financial stocks pushed higher, with Australia & New Zealand Banking Group up 4.8% in Sydney, Mizuho Financial Group gaining 5.3% in Tokyo, Korea Exchange Bank climbing 5.9% in Seoul and Industrial & Commercial Bank of China rising 6.3% in Hong Kong.
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. stock was trading 4% up in Singapore, while HSBC Holdings reversed sharp early losses in Hong Kong, where its share rights debuted trading, to end up 0.6%.
Among resource stocks, BHP Billiton jumped 3.5% and Rio Tinto surged 7.9% in Sydney, while Inpex Corp. rallied 6.7% in Tokyo. Aluminum Corp. of China spiked 16.3% in Hong Kong.
Spot gold reversed early gains, falling $3.60 from Friday's New York levels, to $949.00 a troy ounce.
Nymex crude-oil futures for May delivery were recently 77 cents higher at $52.84 a barrel on the Globex electronic platform. Koichi Murakami at Daiichi Shohin warned crude remains vulnerable to a correction, given a recent rise in U.S. oil inventories and as prices are around 10% higher than last week.
Taiwan's technology stocks rose with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. closing up 5.5% on news it will end mandatory unpaid leave for its employees on April 1, as first-quarter sales have picked up. UniMicron Technology rose 6.4% after its board approved a merger with Phoenix Precision Technology.
CHINA
In Shanghai, steel and automotive stocks rose after Beijing announced stimulus measures for these sectors Friday. Baoshan Iron & Steel gained 1.2% and SAIC Motor gained 5.4%. In Shenzhen, Angang Steel Co. rose 2.7%.
Elsewhere:
China’s Shanghai Composite Index added 59.56, or 2.5% at 2,439.40
Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 67.16 or 4.2%, to 1,664.08
South Korea’s Kospi Composite Index picked up 28.56 points, or 2.4%, to 1,199.50
Taiwan’s Taiex Index 162.56 points, or 3.3% to 5,124.18
New Zealand’s NZX Index bucked the trend and gave back 7.60 points, or 0.3% to 2,591.42
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index tacked on 84.60 or 2.4% to 3,550.30
