Asia stocks gain as China slows less than expected

2012-01-17 Font size:T | T

BANGKOK (AP) -- Asian stock markets rose Tuesday, buoyed by a successful sale of French government bonds and China's economic growth slowing less than expected.

Benchmark oil rose above $100 per barrel, while the dollar fell against the yen and the euro.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index added 0.7 percent to 8,435.78. Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 1.9 percent at 19,369.91 and South Korea's Kospi jumped 1.4 percent to 1,885.23. Australia's S Poor's downgrade of the eurozone's rescue fund by one notch to AA+. While that could hurt the fund's ability to raise cheap bailout money to resolve the continent's debt crisis, Credit Agricole said the development had largely been priced in to the market.

Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group rose 1.1 percent after it announced the purchase of Royal Bank of Scotland Group's aviation leasing business, the fourth-biggest in the world by book value.

Gains overnight in gold, copper and oil helped commodity shares. Hong Kong-listed Zijin Mining Group Co. Ltd., China's biggest gold miner, jumped 4.6 percent.

Hong Kong-listed China Petroleum and Chemical Corp., Asia's biggest oil refiner that is also known as Sinopec, surged 3.2 percent. China National Offshore Oil Corp., or CNOOC, added 3 percent.

Australian mining shares were big gainers, including uranium miner Paladin Energy, which soared 12.2 percent after it reported record production in the three months to December and reaffirmed its full-year production targets.

Fortescue Metals Group, Australia's third-largest iron ore producer, rose 3.7 percent after it reported shipping a record 14.77 million ton of iron ore in the December quarter.

U.S. markets were closed Monday for a public holiday.

In currency trading, the euro rose to $1.2730 from $1.2670 late Friday in New York. The dollar fell to 76.71 yen from 76.96 yen.

Benchmark oil for February delivery jumped $1.44 to $100.14 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 40 cents to settle at $98.70 in New York on Friday.

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