Asian stocks edged higher yesterday, tracking gains in Europe, where hopes grew that regional governments would help Greece through its debt crisis, dealers said.
Gains were muted, however, as many Asian markets stayed closed for the Lunar New Year celebrations and the region lacked a lead from Wall Street following the Presidents’ Day holiday.
The focus was on Brussels, where European finance ministers began two days of talks on Monday to assess their next moves to help Greece through its financial woes.
Pressure mounted on Greece to take tougher action to slash its debt and public deficit, with Athens insisting that Europe spell out what it will offer in the way of an eventual bailout.
Tokyo closed up 0.21 percent, with the Nikkei-225 rising 20.95 points to 10,034.25. Seoul added 0.46 percent and Sydney climbed 0.49 percent.
European stock markets rallied yesterday as the banking sector traded higher in the wake of bumper earnings from Barclays, which helped to offset lingering uncertainty over Greece’s debt.
In early trading, London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index was up 0.95 percent at 5,217.26 points, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 increased 1.05 percent to 5,569.70 points and in Paris the CAC 40 added 0.79 percent to 3,637.59.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of top eurozone shares rose 0.89 percent to reach 2,707.86 points.
Hopes of some progress in easing Greece’s predicament helped the single European currency to claw back some ground in Asia.
The euro rebounded to US$1.364 in Tokyo afternoon trade from 1.3607 in late London trading on Monday. The greenback slipped to ¥89.79 from ¥89.98.
Greece is already committed to reducing its public deficit by 4 percentage points this year, from a predicted 12.7 percent of national output, under emergency plans submitted for EU ministers’ approval.
Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou called for “more explicit” backing from the EU.
“My guess is that what will stop markets attacking Greece at the moment is a further more explicit message that makes operational what has been decided last Thursday at the European Council,” he told reporters.
Financial stocks led share prices higher in Australia, where the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed up 22.3 points to 4,567.8 points.
Analysts said a strong quarterly cash earnings result from the nation’s second-largest lender Westpac had lifted the sector, which was also boosted by the European plans to help Greece.
“Solid leads from London got the ball rolling, but it was the sharply better-than-expected trading update from Westpac Banking Corporation, featuring a large reduction in impairment charges, that boosted market sentiment,” IG Markets analyst Ben Potter said.
Financial markets in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
In other markets, Bangkok rose 3.64 points, or 0.53 percent, to close at 692.73. Jakarta gained 41.04 points, or 1.63 percent, to reach 2,558.50.
Manila ended up 4.47 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2,967.71. Wellington closed up 28.07 points, or 0.92 percent, at 3,087.61.
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