Asian stocks advanced Tuesday, finding support from gains overnight on Wall Street as U.S. lawmakers appeared to make progress toward raising the U.S. debt limit as that deadline approaches.
The Nikkei 225 index in Japan gained 36.80 points, or 0.3% to 14,441.54
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumped 118.20 points, or 0.5%, to 23,336.52
Investors in Tokyo and Hong Kong, returning from three-day weekends for both markets, considered remarks by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who said on the Senate floor that he was "very optimistic" about concluding a deal “this week” to raise the debt limit as well as end the government shutdown Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader, said he shared Reid’s feeling that "we’ll get a result that’s acceptable to both sides."
Markets worldwide have been watching Washington as it nears an estimated Oct. 17 deadline for Congress to allow the Treasury to borrow in order to pay the government’s bills. Without legislative action, the U.S. could default on its debt obligations at a time when the global economy is still recovering from the financial crisis.
In Sydney, mining shares were mostly higher Tuesday, following overnight gains for gold and copper prices, with BHP Billiton Ltd. finishing 1% higher.
Also, Rio Tinto Ltd. jumped 2.5%, extending gains after it said iron-ore output rose to a new quarterly record. The figures arrived as the company considers an expansion of its mines in Australia. Shares of iron-ore miner Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. also stretched gains, rising 5.8% following Rio Tinto’s report.
Asian financial blue chips also logged gains ahead of a possible resolution to fully reopen the U.S. government, which has been in a partial shutdown since Oct. 1. Westpac Banking Corp. rose 0.9%, while Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group Inc. was up 0.5%.
Hong Kong-traded shares of Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. picked up 1.4%, and those of China Construction Bank Corp. rose 0.7%.
CHINA
Chinese banking stocks moved higher following central-bank data showing financial institutions issued 787 billion yuan ($128.8 billion U.S.) in new loans in September, more than the 674.5 billion yuan in loans expected in a Wall Street Journal survey of analysts.
Even so, Shanghai’s CSI 300 dropped 5.02 points, or 0.2%, to 2,467.52
The overall money and credit data for September reflected "stable and robust credit growth," and showed “capital flowed into China again in [the third quarter] despite capital flight in many other emerging economies on fear of an incoming U.S. quantitative-easing tapering,” said Bank of America Merrill Lynch economists Xiaojia Zhi and Ting Lu in report Monday.
The data may spur more analyst calls for tightening measures by China, said Zhi and Lu, adding that they "definitely don’t expect credit tightening and further rise of rates in the near term. Monthly new loans will most likely fall due mainly to seasonality, but the government’s more prudent policy stance could also help limit the scale of new loans."
In other markets;
Korea’s Kospi Index added 20.69 points, or 1%, to 2,040.96
Taiwan’s Taiex Index leaped 93.92 points, or 1.1%, to 8,367.88
The Singapore Straits Times Index stepped back 14.46 points, or 0.5%, to 3,165.25
In New Zealand, the Exchange 50 Gross Index took 13.76 points, or 0.3%, to 4,747.93
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 51.29 points, or 1%, to 5,259.15
