Asia stocks higher on U.S. debt talk progress; Nikkei up 1.2%
Investing.com
Published Jul 20, 2011 02:52AM ET
During late Asian trade, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.5%, Australia’s ASX/200 Index rallied 1.8%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index jumped 1.2%.
U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday there had been “some progress” in talks with lawmakers on raising the USD14.3 trillion U.S. debt limit, boosting optimism that a deal would be reached before the August 2 deadline.
Meanwhile, consumer electronics giant Apple reported stronger-than-expected fiscal third quarter earnings late Tuesday, with profit more than doubling from the same period a year ago.
The upbeat results bolstered the outlook for export earnings for big name Japanese exporters.
Honda, which counts the U.S. as its largest market, saw shares climb 1.3%, shares in semiconductor manufacturer Elpida Memory advanced 2.2%, while Toshiba, a maker of memory chips used to store songs and photos in Apple devices rallied 2.75%.
Shares in fiber maker Teijin rose 0.85% after the Nikkei Newspaper reported that the company’s first quarter profit jumped 60% to JPY6.5 billion.
In Hong Kong, shares in the country’s largest mobile phone carrier China Mobile rallied 2.6% after it said total subscribers rose to 616.8 million in June.
Shares in oil producers were higher as crude oil prices rose above USD98 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, boosting earnings prospects for energy producers.
Oil and gas giant PetroChina saw shares climb 1.25%, Sinopec shares rose 1.5%, while China Shenhua Energy saw shares gain 0.7%.
The outlook for European stock markets was upbeat. The EURO STOXX 50 futures pointed to a gain of 0.45%, France’s CAC 40 futures edged 0.4% higher, the FTSE 100 futures added 0.45%, while Germany's DAX futures advanced 0.4%.
Later in the day, the U.S. was to publish industry data on existing home sales, as well as a government report on crude oil inventories.
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