Indexes in Hong Kong, Australia, South Korea and Taiwan ended at their highest levels of 2009 Wednesday, reflecting buoyant investor sentiment in the region and tracking a similar upbeat performance on Wall Street.
The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo gained 53.15 points, or 0.5%, to 10,270.77.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index zoomed up 536.55, or 2.6%, to 20,866.37.
Commodity-linked stocks led the charge on gold and oil price rises, with exporters and airlines also climbing.
The gains in Asia came after data in the U.S. Tuesday showed a larger-than-expected increase in retail sales in August, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said from a technical point of view, the U.S. recession was "very likely over."
"Ben Bernanke's comments overnight that the US is basically out of recession has boosted confidence significantly. This has really helped convince investors that the recovery is real. Skeptical cash from the sidelines seems to be buying today," said Ben Potter, research analyst at IG Markets.
But some analysts remained cautious. The U.S. share market rise "was surprisingly light, likely a function of investors unwilling to be overly-long on lingering fears of a global equity correction that drags all risk assets weaker," said analysts at RBC Capital Markets Emerging Markets Research Group.
Oil plays got a boost after oil futures rose on Tuesday in New York. October Nymex futures was recently down 11 cents at $70.82 U.S. a barrel, after rising $2.07 U.S., or 3%, to $70.93 U.S. per barrel. Japan's Inpex was up 2.4%, Cnooc added 2.4% in Hong Kong and Woodside Petroleum jumped 4.8% in Sydney.
Resource stocks were broadly higher after materials and industrial stocks gained in the U.S. on hopes of a recovery in demand for raw materials due to the improving economy. Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton each climbed 2%, with Sumitomo Metal Mining gaining 1.2% in Tokyo and Aluminum Corp. of China rising 3.4% in Hong Kong.
Shares of Japanese light emitting diode-related firms were higher following a Nikkei report that rising demand for LEDs was helping the companies weather a tough overall business climate. Toyoda Gosei and Disco, both mentioned in the report, were up 6.6% and 4%, respectively.
In Hong Kong, Citic Pacific jumped 5.3% on a report in the state-run Shanghai Securities News the company has hired Citic Securities as the underwriter of its planned Class A share initial public offering ahead of a listing in Shanghai, raising hopes a listing there would help its Hong Kong valuations as well.
Exporters were broadly higher after the overnight show on Wall Street, with Samsung Electronics rising 3.4% in Seoul and Hon Hai Precision Industries rising 1.6% in Taipei, while in Tokyo, Canon climbed 4.2% as Nissan Motor added 2.6%.
In foreign exchange trade, the euro was buying $1.4695 U.S. from $1.4667 U.S. in New York and 132.71 yen from 133.60 yen. The U.S. dollar was at 90.27 yen, from 91.06 yen.
CHINA
Shares in Shanghai went against the general trend as the city’s 300 Composite Index lost 44.41 points, or 1.3%, to 3,258.24, with steelmakers declining on overcapacity concerns.
Baoshan Iron & Steel dropped 3.1% each. Among financials, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank was down 3% and China Construction Bank gave up 2.2%.
Elsewhere:
Singapore’s Straits Times Index picked up 36.02 points, or 1.4%, to 2,674.42.
South Korea’s Kospi index prospered 29.93 points, or 1.8%, to 1,683.33
Taiwan’s Taiex tacked on 93.98 points, or 1.3%, to 7,440.24
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index regained 17.96 points, or 0.6%, to 3,117.58
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 improved 110.10 points, or 2.4%, to 4,650.40
