Asian shares rally following Wall St. gains

A currency trader reacts as he works at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Korea Exchange Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, July 11, 2014. Asian shares mostly rose Tuesday, taking their lead from a second straight advance on Wall Street, while investors await a string of market-moving news and data over the next few days. AP PHOTO/AHN YOUNG-JOON

HONG KONG–Asian shares mostly rose Tuesday, taking their lead from a second straight advance on Wall Street, while investors await a string of market-moving news and data over the next few days.

The broad Asian gains add to Monday’s positive performance and provided support to the dollar after it took a hit last week.

Tokyo rose 0.78 percent, or 119.84 points, to 15,416.66 thanks to the weaker yen, with investors largely unmoved by the Bank of Japan’s expected decision to stand pat on monetary policy.

Seoul jumped 0.94 percent, or 18.84 points, to end at 2,012.72 and Sydney closed flat, edging down 0.1 points to 5,511.3.

Shanghai closed 0.18 percent higher, adding 3.71 points to 2,070.36. Hong Kong added 0.49 percent, or 113.29 points, to 23,459.96.

New York’s three main indexes ended higher Monday thanks to better-than-forecast earnings from banking titan Citigroup, which was described by Wall Street rival Bank of America Merrill Lynch as “encouraging for large peers that report earnings this week.”

The Dow rose 0.66 percent, the S&P 500 advanced 0.48 percent and the Nasdaq put on 0.56 percent.

In Japan the central bank held off announcing any widening of its stimulus programme, saying the economy was recovering despite April’s sales tax rise, although it revised down its growth forecast for the fiscal year to March.

“It came as no surprise that the BoJ left policy settings unchanged today and presented upbeat inflation forecasts, but we still think more easing will be announced in October,” said Marcel Thieliant from Capital Economics.

China growth data in focus

Later Tuesday will see US Federal Reserve chief Yellen begin two days of congressional testimony, with traders hoping for more detail on the bank’s timeframe for raising interest rates.

Also in sight is a US retail sales report for June and earnings from some major US companies, including JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs.

However, the main focus this week in Asia is on China’s second-quarter gross domestic product growth figures, which are due on Wednesday.

On currency markets the buoyant sentiment provided support to the dollar, which edged up as investors grew more confident about risk.

In early trade the greenback was changing hands at 101.58 yen against 101.54 yen in New York Monday and well up from the 101.25 yen at the end of last week.

The euro bought $1.3619 and 138.30 yen against $1.3619 and 138.29 yen in US trade.

Oil prices were mixed. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for August delivery was down 17 cents to $100.74 while Brent crude eased 32 cents to $106.66 in late trade.

Gold dipped. It fetched $1,312.34 an ounce at 1115 GMT compared with $1,321.37 late Monday.

In other markets:

– Mumbai rose 0.89 percent, or 221.67 points, to end at 25,228.65 points.

Financial Technologies was up 10.00 percent, or 22.15 rupees, at 243.70 rupees and Piramal Enterprises was down 9.83 percent or 68.80 rupees at 631 rupees.

– Bangkok lost 0.31 percent, or 4.70 points, to 1,524.53.

Supermarket operator Big C Supercenter added 1.44 percent to 212 baht, while telecoms company Advanced Info Service dropped 1.33 percent to 222 baht.

– Singapore was up 0.01 percent, or 0.44 points, to 3,291.42.

Container shipping firm Neptune Orient Lines was unchanged at 94 cents and vehicle distributor Jardine Cycle and Carriage closed 0.90 percent higher at Sg$45.90.

– Jakarta rose 0.99 percent, or 49.76 points, to 5,070.82.

State miner Aneka Tambang gained 0.89 percent at 1,130 rupiah, while polyester manufacturer Asia Pacific Fibers lost 1.64 percent at 60 rupiah.

– Taipei gained 0.51 percent, or 48.87 points, to 9,569.17.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. was 0.38 percent higher at Tw$133.0 while Hon Hai Precision gained 0.91 percent to Tw$111.0.

– Wellington fell 0.24 percent, or 12.47 points, to 5,115.40.

Fletcher Building was down 0.11 percent at NZ$8.87 and Telecom eased 0.73 percent to NZ$2.73.

– Manila ended flat, nudging up 3.67 points to 6,834.04.

LT Group rose 3.79 percent to 15.88 pesos, BDO Unibank was up 0.50 percent at 90.55 pesos and Alliance Global added 0.90 percent to 28.10 pesos.

– Kuala Lumpur was closed for a public holiday.

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