Asia stocks gain on Wall Street rise as Dubai fears ease; Japan up amid surprise BOJ meeting

Asian markets gain after Wall Street rise

SEOUL, South Korea — Asian stock markets rose Tuesday following modest gains on Wall Street and amid increased confidence the Dubai debt crisis was unlikely to derail the global recovery.

Most major benchmarks were up about 1 percent or more while Tokyo stocks surged on news the central bank was holding an unscheduled board meeting amid government pressure to do more about the surging yen and falling consumer prices.

Oil prices hovered near $77 a barrel while news of the Bank of Japan meeting sent the yen lower against the dollar.

Global markets tumbled late last week after government investment arm Dubai World sought delays in repaying its $60 billion of debts but the panic about a new wave of financial instability had eased by Monday.

“People thought the bad news from Dubai would crash the market, but it didn’t happen,” said Francis Lun, general manager of Fulbright Securities in Hong Kong.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 stock average closed up 226.65, or 2.4 percent, to 9,572.20 as investors awaited news from the Bank of Japan meeting and digested plans for new government stimulus spending of at least 2.7 trillion yen ($31 billion).

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 274.14, or 1.3 percent, to 22,095.64 and South Korea’s Kospi rose 14.12, or 0.9 percent, to 1,569.72 after the government said exports rose from a year earlier in November for the first time in 13 months.

Elsewhere, Australia’s benchmark added 0.4 percent, Singapore’s market was up 1 percent and India’s Sensex advanced 0.9 percent. China’s Shanghai index rose 0.8 percent.

On Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 34.92, or 0.3 percent, to 10,344.84, rebounding after a steep tumble Friday amid worries over credit problems in Dubai. Broader market measures also posted gains.

The Dow and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index rounded out a strong month, rising more than 5 percent in November, their biggest monthly advance since July.

Markets fell in Europe on Monday, with benchmarks in London, Paris and Frankfurt all declining 1.1 percent.

U.S. investors mostly turned their attention to how much U.S. consumers will spend during the holiday shopping, though a report late Monday that Dubai was working on restructuring its debt gave stocks a boost.

Preliminary figures by ShopperTrak, a research firm that tracks more than 50,000 outlets, showed that sales rose 0.5 percent on Friday, the start to the holiday shopping season.

Oil prices hovered above $77 a barrel in Asia as Iran’s detention of five British sailors kept the market on edge. Benchmark crude for January delivery was down 16 cents to $77.12 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract climbed $1.23 to settle at $77.28 on Monday.

In currencies, the yen dollar leapt to 87.15 from 86.30. The euro fell to $1.4997 from $1.5005.