Markets soar on G20 hope

Asian stocks soared Thursday as dealers hoped the G20 summit will produce a plan to tackle the world financial crisis, while some positive news out of the United States added to market confidence.
Hong Kong led the charge, leaping 5.3 percent higher by noon, while Tokyo finished up 4.40 percent at a three month high and Sydney closed 2.81 percent higher as markets continued an upward trend that began early last month.
In Seoul, shares closed 3.54 percent higher.
The massive gains came as leaders of the 20 developed and developing nations prepared to meet later in London to hammer out an agreement aimed at dragging the world out of its worst economic slump in more than 70 years.
"Make no mistake, we are facing the most severe economic crisis since World War II, and the global economy is now so fundamentally interlinked that we can only meet this challenge together," said US President Barack Obama following pre-summit talks.
Earlier, France and Germany demanded tough action by the G20 to improve financial regulations while Obama warned the United States could no longer be counted on to be the "voracious consumer" that would lead worldwide growth.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said they were not happy with the draft proposals for the summit, and vowed to stand together to press for "non-negotiable" new global finance rules.
But their calls were at odds with Japanese and United States plans to use further fiscal stimulus to kickstart economies.
Asian markets were following a strong performance Wednesday on Wall Street, which rose two percent after a positive manufacturing survey for March.
The Institute of Supply Management index, also known as the purchasing managers index, came in at 36.3 percent, slightly better than the expected reading of 36.0, and up from the February reading of 35.8.
The figure is far below the 50 percent level that separates expansion and contraction, however.