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Nikkei upbeat on growth
(CNN) -- Asian stocks closed mostly higher for a second day in a row on Tuesday, with better than expected growth figures giving Japan's Nikkei a boost of almost 1 percent. Japanese big banks made the strongest gains, led by a jump of 8.0 percent for UFJ. Automaker Honda put on 1.3 percent, while consumer electronics leader Sony rose 0.84 percent. The Nikkei 225 average finished the day 0.81 percent higher at 9564.81 after going as high as 9620 during the day. That followed Monday's 1.72 percent rise and a smaller gain last Friday. The broader Topix index was up 0.65 percent to 934.59. Markets in Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong were also firmer, but there were slight falls for South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. The moves in Asia followed a 1 percent gain for the tech-heavy Nasdaq on Wall Street Monday, and a smaller rise for the Dow Jones industrial average. (Full story) Markets are focused on Tuesday's meeting of the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee, where economists are expected to keep U.S. interest rates at current 45-year lows to spur growth. Figures released before the start of trade in Tokyo showed Japan's gross domestic product (GDP) grew by a surprisingly strong 0.6 percent in the June quarter. It was the sixth straight quarter of growth and well above consensus forecasts of 0.2 percent growth. That helped push banks higher. Most techs, industrials and retail stocks also gained. UFJ, Japan's fourth-largest bank, finished 8 percent higher at 243,000 yen. MTFG and SMFG both rose 3.8 percent, while Mizuho was ahead 2 percent. In the auto sector, market leader Toyota fell slightly to 3070 yen, while Honda put on 1.29 percent to 4710 yen. Tech leaders NEC, Mitsubishi Electric, Fujitsu and Kyocera posted gains of about 1.5 to 2.8 percent. But Hitachi slipped 0.2 percent to 504 yen and the market's biggest stock, mobile phone company NTT DoCoMo retreated from recent gains with a fall of 1.4 percent to 282,000 yen. Big retailer Ito-Yokado finished 1.0 percent ahead to 3020 yen. Seven-Eleven Japan was up 1.2 percent to 2985 yen. In Seoul, the Kospi ended down 0.47 percent to 701.30. There were falls of about 2 percent each for Samsung Electronics, mobile phone company SK Telecom and big bank Shinhan. Hyundai Motor, which posted a big profit jump on Monday, was up 3.6 percent to 34,200 won. In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 slipped 0.09 percent into the red, closing at 3142.9. Market heavyweight News Corp continued to gain ahead of results Wednesday, up 1.3 percent to A$12.24. Telstra showed a minor gain, but BHP Billiton and the big banks were lower. AMP ended 1.1 percent higher at A$4.57 after releasing an update Monday on its demerger progress. Beer giant Foster's slipped 0.9 percent to A$4.39. After the close, it announced a spin-off of its hotel and gaming operations. (Full story) Hong Kong's Hang Seng index added to Monday's 1.5 percent gain, up another 0.9 percent to 10,184.17. Leading bank HSBC ended slightly higher at HK$97.25 and conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa was up 1.5 percent to HK$50.75. Telco China Mobile put on 0.26 percent after posting first-half results. (Full story) Singapore's Straits Times index gained 0.65 percent higher to 1563.63 heading towards the close. Singapore Airlines is up 2.83 percent and UOB is 0.77 percent higher. Taiwan's Taiex finished 0.78 percent higher at 5255.24 after being in the red for most of the morning. TSMC ended flat while rival UMC was 2.25 percent higher at T$22.70. New Zealand's Top 50 was down 0.16 percent to 2203.39.
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