Asian stock markets snapped a four-day losing streak on Tuesday after Luxembourg's prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker said that a solution will be found to Greece's debt crisis.
A positive close on Wall Street overnight amid hopes of a resolution to the Greek crisis and firmer crude and copper prices ahead of a confidence vote on Greece Prime Minister George Papandreou's reshuffled cabinet later in the day also spurred some bargain hunting in beaten down stocks.
Meanwhile, investors kept an eye on the U.S. Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting that begins later today for further clues on the health of the U.S. economy.
Japan's Nikkei index and the broader Topix index rose about 1.1 percent each, a day after the government upgraded its view of the economy's performance and outlook for the first time in four months. Nissan Motor climbed 3.1 percent and Mitsubishi Motors rose 2.2 percent after they joined hands to launch their first jointly developed mini-vehicle for the Japanese market in the first half of fiscal 2013.
The euro's strength against the yen lifted shares of euro-sensitive stocks such as Nikon up by almost 3 percent while Mazda Motor rose 2.5 percent. TDK Corp., the electronics company which gets about 15 percent of its revenue from Europe, jumped 3.3 percent. Meanwhile, shares of Sony fell to a fresh 27-month low early in the session before recouping losses and ending 0.2 percent higher.
Paper stocks such as Nippon Paper and Oji climbed over 5 percent each, buoyed by data showing a rise in domestic shipments of paper and cardboard in the previous month. Tokyo Electric Power lost 2.9 percent after Moody's Investors Service slashed the utility's key credit rating by four notches to junk status.
China's Shanghai Composite index came off its nine-month lows to close one percent higher, with cement stocks leading the gains on expectations that nationwide construction of low-cost housing projects will boost demand for the commodity.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index added 1.2 percent, as energy stocks rose in tandem with firm crude prices and real estate stocks climbed on optimism over China's public hosing program.
Crude futures were last trading higher above $94 a barrel, helped by a weaker dollar as concerns eased that Greece will default on its debt.
The Australian market rose sharply as easing Greek debt worries boosted resource stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.3 percent, while the broader All Ordinaries index closed 1.2 percent higher. BHP Billiton rose 1.6 percent, rival Rio Tinto gained 1.7 percent and Fortescue added a percent. In the energy sector, Woodside and Santos rose about 2.5 percent each, while Oil Search edged up 0.6 percent.
Among financials, NAB gained 0.8 percent, while ANZ, Westpac and Commonwealth rose about 1.5 percent each. Fosters climbed 13.5 percent after the Aussie beer maker said it had rejected an initial A$9.51 billion takeover offer from South African brewing giant SABMiller.
The Reserve Bank of Australia released the minutes of the June 7 board meeting today, which indicated that Australia's GDP growth was likely to be above trend in the next few years, resulting in a "gradual pick-up in inflation." The central bank's monetary policy board sees the need for further tightening but suggested the move is not urgent.
South Korea's Kospi average snapped a three-session losing streak to end 1.4 percent higher, the most since May 31, with technology stocks leading the gains. South Korea achieved the fastest export growth among the world's top trading nations in the first four months of 2011, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing a government report.
The New Zealand market bucked the upward trend in the Asia-Pacific region to end lower for a fourth consecutive session, after utility Contact Energy warned of weak second-half earnings. The benchmark NZX-50 lost 0.2 percent.
Contact Energy fell 3.1 percent after the nation's biggest listed energy company said its second-half results will probably miss analyst estimates owing to low wholesale electricity prices and weak demand caused by the Christchurch earthquakes. Kathmandu Holdings, the outdoor clothing and equipment retailer, advanced 2.3 percent, children's clothing retailer Pumpkin Patch rose 1.9 percent and national carrier gained 0.9 percent.
India's benchmark Sensex was last trading up 0.8 percent, a day after tumbling 2 percent on talk about the India-Mauritius tax treaty being revised despite clarifications from the government that nothing will happen very soon.
Elsewhere, Indonesia's Jakarta Composite rose 1.6 percent, Malaysia's KLSE edged up 0.1 percent, Singapore's Straits Times rallied 1.6 percent and the Taiwan Weighed closed up 0.8 percent.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.