Asian stocks rose for the third day as reports from Japan appear to indicate the worst of the nuclear crisis may have already passed.
The Nikkei 225 Index returned from a long weekend to triumph 401.57 points, or 4.4%, to 9,608.32
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index leaped 172.68 points, or 0.8%, to 22,857.90
The yen rose to 80.88 against the U.S. dollar in afternoon trading. Japan’s Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda squelched rumours that the G7’s joint intervention last week was a onetime event. During a briefing on Tuesday, Noda said the central banks of leading industrialized nations would closely monitor the foreign exchange markets and continue to cooperate as appropriate.
Also on Tuesday, the Bank of Japan said it would inject another two trillion yen ($24.7 billion U.S.) into the money market. The country’s central bank had injected liquidity into the financial system every day last week to help in stabilizing the market.
Shares of Sony jumped 3.2% after the company announced plans to restart a lithium ion battery factory in Tochigi prefecture. The company said six other plants that produce a range of different products will remain closed due to supply shortages.
Japan’s carmakers recovered some of their earlier losses on the expectation they would soon resume production at more factories. Toyota jumped 4% and Honda rose 2.1%
Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), operator of the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant, surged 16% after the company reported that all six reactors had been reconnected to an external electrical supply. Smoke from two reactors forced workers to evacuate yesterday, but they were able to resume their efforts on Tuesday.
Firefighters continued to spray water on the spent fuel storage pool on reactor No. 3, as engineers worked to repair the plant’s cooling systems. Tepco said the pumps and other machinery used to control reactors 2 and 4 could be operational as early as Tuesday. Damaged fuel rods appear to have leaked radiation into the sea near the plant after traces of radiation had already been found in milk, vegetables and water supplies.
Elsewhere in the region, S-Oil Corp. rose 2.5% and Korea Kumho Petrochemical Co. added 7.4% in Seoul.
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, added 0.8% in Hong Kong
Australian stocks ended flat after a choppy trading session, during which metals and energy stocks fell after copper prices fell following weak U.S. home-sales data and as crude-oil prices failed to extend Monday’s Asian session gains.
BHP Billiton Ltd. shed 0.7% and Rio Tinto Ltd. dropped 0.6%, while Woodside Petroleum Ltd. gave up 1.2%. Some uranium stocks continued to recover from their recent hefty losses, with Extract Resources Ltd. rising 1.3%.
Mantra Resources Ltd. spiked 26.3% to 6.68 Australian dollars ($6.75 U.S.) in Sydney after a revised offer of A$7.02 a share in cash was made by Russia’s JSC Atomredmetzoloto.
In other markets:
The Shanghai CSI 300 Index restored 15.85 points, or 0.5%, to 3,222.96
Taiwan’s Taiex Index added 40.33 points, or 0.5%, to 8,508.04
Korea’s Kospi Index gained 10.24 points, or 0.5%, to 2,013.66
Singapore’s Straits Times Index ticked up 19.24 points, or 0.6%, to 3,002.75
New Zealand’s NZX 50 improved 16.86 points, or 0.5%, to 3,348.36
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 inched forward 0.60 points to 4,643.40
