Investing.com - Asian stocks moved higher in Friday trade, lifted by the overnight rise on Wall Street and prospects for progress on addressing Europe’s sovereign debt crisis.
During early Asian trade, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 2.15% to 17,540.70, Japan’s Nikkei Index added 1.1% to 8,607.86, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 2.06% to 4,154.10.
The Topix Index of all shares listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, gained 1.04% to trade at 744.55.
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said Thursday the ECB would begin a two-fold program to ease concerns in financial markets over Europe’s sovereign debt threats.
Trichet, whose term as head of Europe’s central bank expires at the end of October, said the ECB would begin buying USD53 billion in covered bonds and institute longer term refinancing operations to commercials banks in the euro-zone beginning this month.
The ECB voted to maintain interest rates unchanged at 1.5%.
The Bank of England also decided to leave interest rates at a record low 0.5%, a rate it has stuck to since March 2009, and increase the size of its own asset purchase program by USD115 billion.
News from Europe as well as a better than expected jobs report helped lift Wall Street shares in the Thursday session.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.68%, the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.88%, and the S&P 500 was lifted 1.83%.
Earlier Thursday, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that the number of Americans filing for initial jobless benefits for the week ending September 30 rose by 6,000, to a seasonally adjusted 401,000.
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Market expectations were for jobless claims to rise to 411,000 after hitting 395,000 the previous week.
In Tokyo, Sony Corp. shares sank 2.9% on news that the electronics maker was near a deal to take full control of the Sony Ericsson joint venture, by purchasing the ownership stake of Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson, according to the Wall Street Journal.
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. rose 2.1% despite its forecast Friday that third-quarter operating profit would decline by 13.6% year on year, due to weak demand for its computer products.
The Financial Times reported that Yahoo Inc. was exploring the sale its 35% share of Yahoo Japan Corp. Yahoo Japan gained 1.7%.
Rising global commodity prices helped jump-start resource issues in Sydney. Rio Tinto Ltd. rose 3.6%, while BHP Billiton Ltd. added 2.4%.
The outlook for European stocks was pessimistic. France’s CAC 40 futures was lower by 0.14% to 3,080.60, Britain’s FTSE 100 futures edged down 0.05% to 5,283.50, while Germany’s DAX futures retreated 0.10% to 5,668.40.