Asian shares surge on ECB bank plans

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HONG KONG: Asian markets extended the previous day's gains on Friday as dealers were cheered by European Central Bank plans to protect the region's lenders from the sovereign debt crisis.

Tokyo rose 1.14 percent by the break, Hong Kong surged 3.15 percent, Sydney added 2.67 percent, Seoul was 2.70 percent higher and Singapore gained 1.30 percent.

Shanghai was closed for a public holiday.

Wall Street provided a good lead, with the Dow closing 1.68 percent up, the S&P 500 1.83 percent higher and the tech-heavy Nasdaq growing 1.88 percent.

Investors regained some of their confidence after the ECB held interest rates and announced measures to bolster under pressure eurozone banks.

The bank opened two longer-term new lines of credit for banks and pledged to buy up to 40 billion euros of bank bonds backed by collateral from November as it looked to soothe jittery financial markets.

The move took the edge off recent concerns that the crisis in Greece could spread to other economies and lead to another global downturn.

European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso also gave markets a lift when he said efforts were under way for coordinated action by the 27 European Union states to recapitalise banks.

Also Thursday Britain's central bank, the Bank of England, said it would inject 75 billion pounds into the stalled economy to stimulate growth.

"With moves to inject capital into European banks, there are signs of a brighter outlook for progress, although a full resolution is still far off," said Hiroichi Nishi, general manager at SMBC Nikko Securities in Tokyo.

Global markets have been sent spinning in recent weeks as European leaders seem unable to come to any agreement on how to help Greece avoid a default or how to protect lenders with exposure to Athens.

The announcements boosted the euro in New York, jumping about one cent against the dollar.

However, the unit edged down in early Asian trade. It bought $1.3425 in Tokyo against $1.3433 in New York late Thursday. The European common currency was at 102.92 yen compared with 103.03 yen.

The dollar was at 76.65 yen, from 76.69 yen.

With the ECB's bank plan easing eurozone tension, dealers turned to the United States, where the government is due later Friday to release key jobs data that will give an indication to the health of the economy there.

BNZ FX Strategist Mike Burrowes told Dow Jones Newswires: "We are now shifting our attention to the US economy, which we have kind of forgotten about."

In Seoul shares in Samsung Electronics jumped after it tipped a 13.6 percent year-on-year fall in operating profit, which was better than the 31 percent decline many had expected.

The South Korean giant's shares rose more than two percent.

Oil slipped, with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for November delivery falling 10 cents to $79.58 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for November easing 38 cents to $102.44.

By 0300 GMT gold was at $1,664.25 an ounce up from $1,652.00 at 1000 GMT on Thursday. (AFP)