Asian stocks rise after Wall Street ends losses

Asian stocks rebounded in early trade on Friday after Wall Street ended a losing streak overnight on renewed optimism about
president-elect Barack Obama's plans to revive the US economy.

But they said gains were capped by nervousness ahead of corporate earnings results in the United States and Japan that are expected to reflect the rapidly worsening business conditions in recession-ridden major economies.

Tokyo's Nikkei index was up 1.27 percent by the lunch break, bouncing back from the previous day's near six-week low.

Hong Kong share prices opened 0.3 percent higher as some investors hunted for bargains following recent heavy falls.

Sydney posted a gain of 0.7 percent, Singapore edged up 0.4 percent and Taipei opened 1.25 percent higher.

Chinese shares rose 1.94 percent, led by manufacturers and ship builders on hopes for domestic stimulus measures to support the two sectors.

Asian stock markets had fallen sharply on Thursday following a slew of poor economic and corporate news.

But investors now appear to be getting used to reports of gloomy corporate earnings outlooks, said Hideaki Higashi, equity strategist at SMBC Friend Securities.

"They have already factored in bad results for the year to March," he said.

Dealers said the market was likely to remain cautious until Obama takes office on January 20.

"It is difficult to take big positions until the inauguration of the new US president," said Higashi.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished Thursday with a gain of 0.15 percent, ending a string of six consecutive losses for the blue-chip index, after Democratic lawmakers unveiled an 825 billion dollar stimulus plan.

Markets digested news of more difficulties for US firms including a 76 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit at JPMorgan Chase, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs's medical leave and 4,000 more job cuts at Motorola.

On the economic front, US producer prices fell 1.9 percent, highlighting concerns about the weak economy and potential deflation, and the number of weekly jobless claims rose 11.5 percent to 524,000.

The Wall Street rebound came despite heavy selling in other global markets.

In London, the FTSE 100 index of leading shares shed 1.42 percent on Thursday while the Paris CAC 40 index lost 1.84 percent and Frankfurt's DAX declined 1.94 percent.

Dealers said an interest rate cut Thursday of half a percentage point, to 2.00 percent, by the European Central Bank was in line with expectations and had no discernible impact on sentiment.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Markets/Global_Markets/Asian_stocks

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Asian stocks rise after Wall Street ends losses