Spending hope drives Nikkei higher
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There are high expectations for Japan's tech stocks, ahead of their third quarter earnings.
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(CNN) -- Japan's key stock index, the Nikkei 225, has opened in positive mood Tuesday, rising 0.78 percent to 11054.83 points after the Japanese government indicated it would do more to bolster domestic consumer spending.
Expectations of strong third-quarter earnings and a 31-month high on Wall Street also pushed the Nikkei higher in early trading.
The Nikkei 225 average is up 85.23 points, springing back from a 0.87 percent fall in the previous session.
The Topix index of all first-section issues put on 0.66 percent to 1,075.91.
An early climber is the electronics leader, Sharp, which rose 1.3 percent to 1,941 yen ahead of its third-quarter result.
On the currency front, the dollar has gained against the yen and is up 0.14 yen from the previous close to 106.38 yen.
Meanwhile, Japanese Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said Tuesday the government must bolster domestic demand so the economy becomes less reliant on exports, Reuters reports.
"At the moment our economy is being led by overseas economies," he said after a Cabinet meeting.
"Efforts are needed to strengthen domestic demand through higher personal spending."
Bullish sentiment was evident only for selected stocks on the Australian Stock Exchange as one local bellwether, the National Australia Bank, admitted it lost A$360 million in rogue foreign trades. (Full story)
The market had been expecting worse. In early trade, NAB was up 15c to A$29.72.
It was one of several banks to climb higher. Analysts warn the lower-than-expected loss from NAB would lose its gloss by the end of the day.
The Australian market seemed to ignore the 31-month high achieved on Wall Street.
The S&P/ASX200 is down 0.17 percent to 3328.9
Media company News Corp was one of the few beneficiaries, climbing 1.22 percent to A$12.47.
South Korea's Kospi index was in a similar mood to the Australian market. It slipped 0.31 percent to 866.33, down 272 points.
However, New Zealand's Top 50 Index is ahead 0.4 percent to 2333.09.
Earlier, in the United States the Nasdaq composite pushed higher by 29.96 points (1.41 per cent) to 2153.83 and the Dow hit a 31-month high of 10,702.51, up 1.27 percent.
The British FTSE 100 edged down 0.34 per cent to 4,445.5, the French CAC 40 shed 0.48 per cent to 3,675.72 and the German DAX 30 lost 0.56 per cent to 4,128.68.
