Asia stocks rise after Dow closes above 13,000

BANGKOK (AP) ? Asian stock markets rose Wednesday, powered higher by the strongest close for U.S. stocks since before the 2008 financial crisis.

Benchmark oil climbed above $107 per barrel while the dollar fell against the euro and the yen.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index added 0.9 percent to 9,805.27 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged up 0.5 percent to 21,681.36. South Korea's Kospi gained 1.4 percent to 2,031.46. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.8 percent to 4,298.60.

Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia were also higher. Mainland Chinese shares fell.

Surging consumer confidence helped push the Dow to close at 13,005.12 on Tuesday. The last time the benchmark closed above 13,000 was in May 2008, four months before the fall of the Lehman Brothers investment bank and the worst of the financial crisis.

Investors are also anticipating the Federal Reserve's so-called Beige Book report on economic activity, which is due Wednesday. The report is expected to reflect a slowly improving U.S. economy.

"A plethora of positive developments helped to buoy markets overnight ... a jump in US consumer confidence to its highest since February 2011 gave equity markets and risk assets in general a lift," said analysts at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong.

Investors were largely putting aside a worse-than-expected drop in orders for durable goods. The U.S. Commerce Department reported Tuesday that orders fell 4 percent last month as U.S. businesses slashed spending on machinery and equipment after a tax break expired.

"The market just seems to want to edge up further and that actually is in line with the larger picture," said Lee Kok Joo, head of research at Phillip Securities in Singapore.

"When you look at the whole macro scheme of things ? on the euro side the debt story is kind of slowing down. Right now the story still is that the U.S. is actually showing signs of recovery," he said.

Key benchmarks in mainland China were down due to a clampdown by Beijing on Shanghai officials for attempting to relax rules on property purchases.

"They stopped them from doing that, so that's why the mainland markets are down, especially property," said Francis Lun, managing director of Lyncean Holdings in Hong Kong.

The move also put a crimp in Hong Kong-listed shares. China Vanke Co. fell 1.2 percent and Poly Real Estate Group tumbled 2.7 percent.

But airlines shares began to claw back from recent selloffs sparked by higher oil prices. Korean Air Lines Co. rose 3.1 percent and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. jumped 3.8 percent.

Meanwhile, shares of Elpida Memory Inc. went into free fall after it filed for bankruptcy Monday. The company, Japan's only chipmaker to specialize in memory chips used in mobile phones and computers, was pummeled by dropping prices, fierce competition and flooding in Thailand.

Benchmark oil for April delivery was up 50 cents to $107.05 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell by $2.01 to $106.55 per barrel in New York on Tuesday.

In currency trading, the euro rose to $1.3483 from $1.3459 late Tuesday in New York. The dollar fell to 80.33 yen from 80.55 yen.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-02-29-World-Markets/id-4efd862f21064a9a977cd80446c64b64

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