Asian shares surge on Europe debt hopes, US data

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HONG KONG: Asia's stock markets surged on Thursday, boosted by another strong performance on Wall Street and hopes European leaders will come together to plan a route out of the region's sovereign debt crisis.

Sentiment was also lifted by better-than-expected economic data out of Washington that eased concerns the United States is slipping into recession.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday called on her eurozone counterparts to recapitalise the banking sector to help prevent Greece's debt crisis from spreading to other nations.

Her view that helping the banks was "justified, if we have a joint approach" echoed comments from the EU's economic affairs commissioner the previous day, and gave a much-needed boost to nervous investors.

Tokyo jumped 1.93 percent by the break, Hong Kong gained 4.20 percent in early trade, Sydney surged 2.72 percent, Seoul rallied 3.80 percent and Singapore was 2.55 percent higher.

Shanghai was closed for a public holiday.

Merkel was speaking soon after France and Belgium agreed to bail out Dexia, the first European bank to be dragged down by the eurozone debt crisis - and which also had to be rescued in 2008.

Merkel said it "is important for the markets that we achieve results... time is pressing and we have to act quickly".

Germany, she said, was ready to lead, putting fresh capital into its banks if necessary, but added that Europe had no "magic wand" to resolve the crisis.

Markets have been hammered in recent weeks as Europe's leaders bicker over a plan to help Greece avoid a default and find a way out of its debt crisis, which many fear could plunge the global economy into another recession.

The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday also urged Europe to balance growth with austerity and called for a "more than overdue" solution to the crisis, warning of recession next year if it fails.

European stocks were lifted, with London's FTSE-100 jumping 3.19 percent, Frankfurt's DAX soaring 4.91 percent and Paris' CAC-40 up 4.33 percent.

Merkel's comments also provided a platform for Wall Street, with the Dow up 1.21 percent, the S&P 500 adding 1.79 percent and the Nasdaq up 2.32 percent.

US traders were given another lift by upbeat macroeconomic data.

The ISM index on the US service economy in September fell slightly to 53 from 53.3 the previous month, but was still in positive growth territory, while its business activity sub-index rose 1.5 points to 57.1.

Meanwhile the private payrolls firm ADP reported that US companies added 91,000 jobs last month, more than analysts had predicted.

"In addition to talks of putting in place a system of backstops for European banks, the US macroeconomic data have generally been solid, lending to relief in market sentiment," Yoshihiro Okumura, general manager of research at Chibagin Asset Management in Tokyo, told Dow Jones Newswires.

On currency markets the single currency was at $1.3341, a tad down from $1.3346 late Wednesday in New York, and at 102.37 yen against 102.44. The dollar was at 76.70 yen, from 76.78.

Stocks linked to Apple were mixed following news the US giant's co-founder and chairman Steve Jobs had died of pancreatic cancer.

In Tokyo, the official iPhone carriers Softbank and KDDI fell 1.2 percent and 0.5 percent respectively, while parts suppliers Sharp and Ibiden rose 2.3 percent and 5.2 percent.

In Seoul rival Samsung Electronics was up 4.4 percent while LG Electronics rose 6.3 percent, in a surging market.

And in Taipei, Foxconn, which assembles Apple' devices such as iPads and iPhones, was more than two percent higher.

Oil was slightly lower, with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for November delivery down eight cents to $79.60 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude, also for November, 29 cents off at $102.44. (AFP)