Stock markets in Asian region finished mostly higher on Tuesday, 2 March 2010, astechnology stocks gaining ground around the region, while Hong Kong lost ground afterdisappointing earnings results from HSBC. Chinese stocks were lower, with trade cautiousahead of China’s annual parliament sessions starting Friday. The Australian stocksclose higher after the central bank raised its cash rate another quarter of a percentagepoint to 4%, in a move expected by most economists.

The key benchmark indices in Indonesia, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan rose by 0.26% -1.29%. But the key benchmark indices in China Singapore and Hong Kong fell by 0.07% -0.72%.

On Wall Street, stocks closed higher as a surge in M&A activity, a rise in consumerspending and reports that a bailout plan for Greece is in the works eased concerns aboutthe recovery's sustainability. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 79 points, or0.8%, to 10,404. The S&P 500 gained 11 points, or 1%, to 1116 and the Nasdaq wenthigher by 35 points, or 1.6%, to 2274.

In the commodity market, crude oil traded little changed below $79 a barrel after fallingin New York, signaling demand from the world’s biggest energy consumer may beslowing.

Crude oil for April delivery was at $78.59 a barrel, down 11 cents, in electronic tradingon the New York Mercantile Exchange at 3:18 p.m. Singapore time. Yesterday, the contractfell 96 cents to $78.70.

Brent crude oil for April settlement was at $76.77 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europeexchange, down 12 cents, at 3:18 p.m. Singapore time. Yesterday, the contract declined 70cents, or 0.9%, to settle at $76.89.

Gold was little changed in London today, as a stronger dollar cuts demand for the metal asan alternative investment. Gold for immediate delivery lost $2.24, or 0.2%, to $1,116.75an ounce at 9:53 a.m. London time. Bullion for April delivery was 0.1% lower at $1,116.80on the New York Mercantile Exchange’s Comex unit.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar held on to early gains and ended the Asian sessionstronger, aided to some extent by a less-than-stellar Australian dollar reaction to theReserve Bank of Australia's decision to raise interest rates.

The Japanese currency was trading around 89.02, up from 89.07 in late New York tradeovernight, and holding on the high side of an 89.08 to 89.35 range.

The Hong Kong dollar was trading at HK$ 7.7643 against the dollar. Actually the Hong Kongdollar is pegged at HK$ 7.8 to the U.S. dollar but can trade between HK$ 7.75 and HK$7.85to the U.S. dollar.

In Sydney trades, the Australian dollar initially climbed after the Reserve Bank ofAustralia raised interest rates by 0.25% to 4.0%, but it later erased its gains. Thedollar advanced as high as $US0.9035 after the RBA’s rate rise but later gave up itsgains to close locally at $US0.8981, hardly changed from yesterday’s close of$US0.8977.

In Wellington trades, the NZ dollar did dip during the night to near US69.30c, but by 8amwas up to US69.91c, little different from its level at the local close.

The South Korean won ended at 1152.60 won to the greenback, up 7.4 won from Friday’sclose of 1160.

The Taiwan dollar strengthened against the greenback. The Taiwan dollar was trading higheragainst the US dollar at NT$ 32.0390, 0.0110 up from Friday’s close of NT$32.0480.

In equities, Asian shares traded mostly higher, with technology stocks gaining groundaround the region, while Hong Kong lost ground after disappointing earnings results fromHSBC.

In Japan, the stock market in Japan extended gains for the second day on Tuesday, takingcues from Wall Street where the major averages ended modestly higher on increasingoptimism about global economic recovery. However, concerns about Greece and more economicdata from US later in the week, especially the employment data, capped the gains.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index advanced 49.78 points, or 0.49%, to 10,222, while thebroader Topix index of all First Section issues was up 3.78 points, or 0.42%, to 903.

On the economic front, a report released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs andCommunications revealed that unemployment rate in the country came in a seasonallyadjusted 4.9% in January, beating expectations for a steady performance after showing 5.1%in December. The report noted that the number of employed persons in January was 62.13million, a decrease of 790 thousand or 1.3% from the previous year. The number ofunemployed persons in January was 3.23 million, an increase of 460 thousand or 16.6% fromthe previous year.

In a separate statement, the Bank of Japan revealed that the monetary base in the countryrose 2.2% year-on-year in February to 95.69 trillion yen, after adding an annual 4.9% inJanuary. Banknotes in circulation were up 0.1%, while coins in circulation shed 0.7%, theBank noted.

In Mainland China, key stock index closed down after investors took profit in small-capshares in the wake of a speculative rally over the past week. Investor confidence remainsfragile partly because the China Securities Regulatory Commission has been adding a largenumber of new shares into the market to cool trading. On Monday, the regulator announcedit had approved initial public share offerings by two small companies and would reviewapplications from four others on Friday.

At the closing bell, the Shanghai Composite Index, measuring A shares and B shares on theShanghai Stock Exchange, dropped 14.73 points, or 0.48%, to 3073.11, meanwhile theShenzhen Component Index on the smaller Shenzhen Stock Exchange slid 39.35 points, or0.31%, to 12,548.91. The CSI 300 Index, measuring exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen, fell0.4%, to 3,311.24.

On the economic front, the pace of Chinese manufacturing eased last month, suggesting thatslower government spending and steps to curb credit growth could be taking some of thesteam out of the world's third-largest economy. The Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI)derived from a survey conducted by the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing forthe National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) fell to 52 in February from 55.8 in January.

In Hong Kong, stocks ended lower as selling triggered by disappointing HSBC Holdingsearnings dominated trading. HSBC dented the Hong Kong market, dropping 6.5% afterreporting net profit of $5.83 billion for 2009, up from $5.73 billion in 2008, as bad-debtcharges continued to rise.

At the closing bell, the Hang Seng Index fell 150.82 points, or 0.72%, to 20,906.11,meanwhile the Hang Seng China Enterprise, which tracks the overall performance of 43Mainland Chinese state-owned enterprises on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, surged 104.10points, or 0.87%, to 12,017.55.

In Australia, the share market finished the choppy session higher, as a mixed bag ofgainers and losers in the sectors despite a strong lead from Wall Street, with around 20stocks going ex-dividend and the much expected interest rate hike today. At the closingbell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 15.40 points, or 0.33%, to 4,701.90,meanwhile the broader All Ordinaries added 15.40 points, or 0.32%, higher to 4,709.90.

On the economic front, the Reserve Bank of Australia today lifted the official cash rateby 25 basis points to 4%. Elsewhere, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said the retailtrade increased 1.2%, higher than the anticipated 0.5% rise. However, building approvalsdropped 7% in January, well down on the expected 1% increase.

In New Zealand, equities advanced following a good show by equities in Europe and theUnited States. The domestic benchmark index registered the fifth consecutive session ofgain today. At the closing today, the NZX 50 ascended 0.60% or 19.09 points to 3183.24.Meanwhile, the NZX 15 gained 0.43% or 24.36 points to close at 5684.64.

On the economic front, New Zealand Business confidence has hit a decade high. A net 50percent of respondents expect better times ahead, up 11 percentage points on December lastyear. This is the highest reading for business confidence since April 1999. Confidence wasup across the manufacturing, agriculture, construction and service subgroups. Retailingbucked the trend with confidence falling 14 points.

In South Korea, shares closed higher as an emerging consensus on the rescue of debt-ladenGreece prompted foreign buying. The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI)advanced 20.54 points to 1,615.12.

In Taiwan, stocks rose to a five-week closing high, as gains on Wall Street fanned hopesof growing demand for technology firms that export to the U.S. market. The main TAIEXshare index ended up 19.87 points at 7,597.62, its highest closed since 29 January 2010.

In Philippines, the stock market closed marginally lower as strong earnings data cushionedthe downside movement of the composite index. Manila stocks pared early gains on lastminute selling. The market tumbled from intraday highs as specter of an interest rate hikepulled the property stocks lower. At the final bell, the benchmark index PSEi lost 0.55%or 17.02 points to 3,061.89, while the All Shares index tumbled 0.26% or 5.08 points to1,939.42.

In India, the key benchmark indices surged for the second straight day after financeminister Pranab Mukherjee offered to progressively cut fiscal deficit over the next threefiscal years, changed personal tax rates which will lift disposable incomes in the hand ofindividuals and reduced surcharge on corporate tax for domestic companies to 7.5% from 10%in Union Budget 2010-2011 late last week. Data showing a surge in manufacturing activityin the month of February and rise in exports for the third consecutive month in Januaryalso lifted sentiment. The BSE 30-share Sensex was up 343.01 points or 2.09% to 16,772.56.The 50-unit Nifty was up 94.70 points or 1.92% to 5,017.

Elsewhere, Malaysia’s Kula Lumpur Composite index finished was little higher by 4.67points at 1288.07 while stock markets in Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite index gainedby 21.92 points ending the day higher at 2576.59.

In other regional market, European shares edged lower on Tuesday, after gaining stronglyat the start of the March, although earnings helped limit downside. Of the main regionalmarkets, the U.K. FTSE 100 index rose 0.2% to 5,414.39, the German DAX index gained 0.2%or 9.78 points at 5,723 and the French CAC-40 index also traded slightly higher at 0.2% or5.98 points at 3,776.