Asian markets mostly up on upbeat earnings

Pedestrians wait for a traffic light in the rain at a shopping district in Hong Kong Thursday, July 26, 2012. Asian stock markets rose Thursday amid hopes Europe will give its bailout fund more financial firepower but gains were tempered as South Korea reported its economic growth slowed to a two-year low. AP PHOTO/KIN CHEUNG

HONG KONG—Asian markets mostly rose Thursday following upbeat earnings results in the region and the United States, while eurozone fears eased slightly on hopes over the funding of future bailouts.

The first gain for the Dow in four sessions also provided some support, while the euro gave up some of the rare recent gains it had made in New York before moving higher in early European trade.

Tokyo closed 0.92 percent, or 77.20 points, higher at 8,443.10, Seoul was up 0.74 percent, or 13.16 points, at 1,782.47, and Sydney gained 0.58 percent, or 23.8 points, to 4,147.7.

Hong Kong ended flat, edging up 0.08 percent, or 15.46 points, to 18,892.79, while Shanghai eased 0.48 percent, or 10.15 points, to 2,126.00.

Regional investors followed the lead from the Dow and most European markets after Spanish borrowing costs fell slightly after hitting record highs on the back of fears Madrid will ask for a bailout.

The yield on Madrid’s 10-year bonds eased to a still-high 7.376 percent after soaring to as much as 7.621 percent at one point.

Dealers were given some comfort after Austrian central bank chief Ewald Nowotny, a member of the European Central Bank governing council, said the soon-to-be launched European Stability Mechanism rescue fund might be granted a banking license.

That would allow the fund to exchange bonds for ECB cash, bolstering its capacity without governments having to contribute additional funds.

Traders have been growing increasingly concerned that a possible rescue for Spain could cost hundreds of billions of dollars, which leaves very little in the pot to help other troubled economies.

“Giving the ESM a banking license would allow it to expand its firepower,” CMC Markets chief market strategist Michael McCarthy in Australia told Dow Jones Newswires.

“The sell-off this week was related to the failure of the eurozone to make any improvement in the structural process of directly aiding Spanish banks.”

But there was still plenty of gloom in Europe. In Germany a survey showed business confidence dropped for the third month in a row in July while Britain said its economy shrank a worse than expected 0.7 percent in April-June deepening the country’s double-dip recession.

On Japan’s Nikkei, videogame maker Nintendo posted healthy gains of 3.19 percent after saying later Wednesday that its first-quarter losses were much lower than at the same time last year.

And industrial robotics firm Fanuc surged 5.32 percent after saying earnings for the April-June period were better than expected.

The earnings figures were followed by strong results on Wall Street from construction giant Caterpillar and airplane maker Boeing, which helped the Dow advance 0.47 percent on Wednesday.

In Sydney flagship carrier Qantas jumped 9.6 percent after it said it was in talks with Emirates and other airlines about a possible tie-up to save its struggling international arm.

On currency markets the euro bought $1.2208 and 95.42 yen in early European trade, compared with $1.2153 and 95.04 yen late Wednesday in New York, where it had made big gains from the previous session. The dollar was at 78.16 yen from 78.19 yen.

Oil prices were down. New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, dipped 34 cents to $88.63 a barrel in the afternoon while Brent North Sea crude for September delivery fell 38 cents to $104.00.

Gold was at $1,613.90 at 1050 GMT from $1,592.40 late Wednesday.

In other markets:

— Singapore closed up 0.46 percent, or 13.65 points, at 3,004.57.

Wilmar International fell 3.38 percent to Sg$3.43 while DBS Group added 1.03 percent to Sg$14.66.

— Taipei was down 0.12 percent, or 8.44 points, at 6,970.69.

Hon Hai Precision lost 1.71 percent to Tw$80.5 and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. rose 2.28 percent to Tw$76.3.

— Manila closed 0.18 percent, or 9.24 points, lower at 5,152.56.

Philippine Long Distance Telephone slipped 0.22 percent to 2,674 pesos but Ayala Corp. 0 rose 0.39 percent to 412.60 pesos.

— Wellington rose 0.77 percent, or 26.77 points, to 3,485.74.

Fletcher Building was up 2.3 percent at NZ$5.90, Air New Zealand gained 0.6 percent to close at NZ$0.90 and Telecom Corp lifted 0.2 percent to NZ$2.57.

— Kuala Lumpur fell 0.68 percent, or 11.18 points, to 1,623.91.

IHH Healthcare gained 1.9 percent to 3.15 ringgit but Axiata Group Bhd was down 0.9 percent at 5.76 ringgit while Genting shed 1.7 percent to close at 9.11 ringgit.

— Jakarta closed up 0.1 percent, or 3.93 points, at 4,000.77.

Astra Agro Lestari gained 1.37 percent to 22,200 rupiah, Astra International rose 1.57 percent to 6,450 rupiah, and Timah lost 1.47 percent to 1,340 rupiah.

— Bangkok fell 1.32 percent, or 15.70 points, to 1,172.92.

Banpu dropped 5.58 percent to 406 baht, while PTT lost 0.63 percent to 316 baht.

— Mumbai fell 1.22 percent, or 206.23 points, to 16,639.82.

India’s leading vehicle maker Tata Motors fell 3.8 percent to 204.85 rupees while Sterlite Industries, the local arm of global resources Vedanta group, fell 2.64 percent to 97.75 rupees.