Asian stocks rise on bargain-buying

Asian markets gained on Tuesday as bargain-hunters moved in the day after a heavy sell-off, with sentiment boosted by a rally on Wall Street.
Tokyo moved 0.91 higher as the yen gave up some of its strength against the dollar, alleviating some of the pressure on exporters.
The greenback's decline to eight-month lows against the Japanese currency on Monday had led the Nikkei 2.56 percent lower.
Hong Kong led Tuesday's gainers, picking up 2.06 percent and recovering almost all the previous day's losses. Sydney drove 1.62 percent higher as the government announced a smaller-than-expected budget deficit.
There were also advances for Singapore, Taipei and Seoul, although Shanghai was 0.33 percent down on renewed liquidity fears due to the introduction of a planned new second board.
Wall Street shares gained 1.28 percent overnight to snap a three-day losing streak, boosted by a pick-up in merger and acquisition activity.
Investors also awaited the release of data, including US consumer confidence figures, later Tuesday.
TOKYO: Up 0.91 percent. The Nikkei-225 gained 90.68 points to 10,100.20.
Investors were closely monitoring foreign exchange movements as the dollar rose to 90.01 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade from 89.58 in New York late Monday, when it had earlier sunk to 88.25.
But with the yen still strong, exporters are suffering, dealers said.
"Unless the dollar can stay well above 90 yen, sentiment won't improve much," Nikko Cordial senior strategist Tsuyoshi Kawata told Dow Jones Newswires.
Honda Motor advanced 1.1 percent to 2,705 yen and Canon gained 1.4 percent to 3,640 yen.
Nomura Holdings jumped 4.4 percent to 564 yen following a plunge of 20 percent over the two previous trading days in response to news of a big planned capital hike by Japan's top securities firm.
HONG KONG: Up 2.06 percent. The Hang Seng Index rose 424.76 points to 21,013.17.
Bargain-hunting snapped a four-day losing streak.
HSBC closed 2.6 percent higher at 89.40 on investor optimism over news that its chief executive would relocate to Hong Kong from London in February.
Bank of China rose 2.2 percent to 4.12 and Bank of Communications closed 2.0 percent up at 9.57.
Mainland developers recovered after falling Monday. Agile Property rose 1.7 percent to 2.83.
SYDNEY: Up 1.62 percent. The S&P/ASX 200 put on 75.7 points to 4,753.1
"We had a good lead from Wall Street overnight and have got consumer confidence data coming out in the US tonight which should be fairly positive considering the good run in the market in July and August," said CommSec analyst Juliette Saly.
Treasurer Wayne Swan said Australia's budget deficit was five billion dollars (4.4 billion US) better than expected despite the financial crisis.
SHANGHAI: Down 0.33 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A and B shares, was down 8.98 points to 2,754.54.
Investors fear securities regulators may quicken the pace of initial public offerings for the new index, which will soak up liquidity in the market, dealers said.
Ten companies slated to list on ChiNext, the new board, said they attracted a combined 784.1 billion yuan (115 billion dollars) in bids for subscriptions.
The securities regulator will allow second batch of nine additional companies to offer IPO subscriptions on October 13 for the upcoming ChiNext, according to filings with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Investors also stayed away ahead of a week-long public holiday amid concerns global markets could tumble while China's are closed, traders said.
Citic Securities fell 1.1 percent to 24.41 yuan, Inner Mongolia Rare-Earth Hi-Tech dropped 5.3 percent to 26.28 yuan, and China Cosco Holdings lost 2.5 percent to 11.94 yuan.
TAIPEI: Up 2.0 percent. The weighted index rose 145.37 points to 7,429.98.
The market was boosted by big caps focusing on flat panels and semiconductors after Taipei said it may ease controls on high-tech investments in China by local companies while allowing further Chinese investments here.
AU Optronics Corp, the world's third biggest flat panel maker, finished at 31.7 while Chi Mei Optoelectronics ended at 16.75. Both were 2.76 percent higher.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co rose 4.94 percent to 63.7.
SINGAPORE: Up 1.30 percent. The Straits Times Index was 34.06 points firmer at 2,663.31.
Singapore Airlines rose 10 cents to 13.50 dollars while Singapore Telecom-munications put on two cents to 3.21 dollars.
CapitaLand gained three cents to 3.68 and Keppel Land was 10 cents up at 2.71 dollars.
BANGKOK: Up 0.90 percent. The Stock Exchange of Thailand gained 6.41 points to close at 715.29.
Coal miner Banpu lost 4.00 baht to close at 430.00, PTT Plc added 2.00 baht to 259.00 but its subsidiary PTT Exploration and Production was off 1.00 baht to 144.00.
Bangkok Bank rose 3.00 baht to close at 120.00. Kasikornbank closed 1.50 baht higher to 80.75 while Siam Commercial Bank gained 1.75 baht to 84.50.
KUALA LUMPUR: Up 0.19 percent. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index gained 2.26 points to 1,208.21.
An analyst warned that a correction on the key index is "imminent".
"Investors may look to Wall Street for guidance but there seems to be a negative bias to trade," Lee Cheng Hooi from top bank Maybank said.
TA added 6.50 percent to 1.48 ringgit while Bursa was up 1.0 percent to 8.16.
Plantation giant IOI Corp lost 0.60 percent to 5.20 ringgit and LFE Corp slid 10.20 percent to 0.39.
JAKARTA: Up 1.92 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index gained 46.01 points to 2,443.83.
Bank Danamon jumped 4.7 percent to 5,000 rupiah, while Bank Negara Indonesia advanced 2.5 percent to 2,075.
Car distributor Astra International climbed 6.2 percent to 31,900 rupiah.
MANILA: Up 0.81 percent. The composite index gained 22.67 points to 2,807.32.
"We were actually expecting a much bigger rise," but the market appears to be weighed by concerns over floods spawned by tropical storm Ketsana this week, said Doreen Mijares of IGC Securities Inc.
The flooding in Manila and surrounding areas, the worst in 40 years, left at least 240 dead and nearly two million displaced.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. gained 1.05 percent to 2,415 pesos while Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. added 2.67 percent to 38.50 pesos.
MUMBAI: Up 0.96 percent. The 30-share Sensex index rose 159.91 points to 16,852.91.