Asian shares rally following Wall St gains

Asian shares mostly rose Tuesday, taking their lead from a second straight advance on Wall Street, while investors await a string of market-moving news and data over the next few days. The broad Asian gains add to Monday's positive performance and provided support to the dollar after it took a hit last week. Tokyo rose 0.78 per cent, or 119.84 points, to 15,416.66 thanks to the weaker yen, with investors largely unmoved by the Bank of Japan's expected decision to stand pat on monetary policy. Seoul jumped 0.94 per cent, or 18.84 points, to end at 2,012.72 and Sydney closed flat, edging down 0.1 points to 5,511.3. Shanghai closed 0.18 per cent higher, adding 3.71 points to 2,070.36. Hong Kong added 0.49 per cent, or 113.29 points, to 23,459.96. The Dow rose 0.66 per cent, the S&P 500 advanced 0.48 per cent and the Nasdaq put on 0.56 per cent. In early trade the greenback was changing hands at 101.58 yen against 101.54 yen in New York Monday and well up from the 101.25 yen at the end of last week. The euro bought $1.3619 and 138.30 yen against $1.3619 and 138.29 yen in US trade. Oil prices were mixed. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for August delivery was down 17 cents to $100.74 while Brent crude eased 32 cents to $106.66 in late trade. Gold dipped. It fetched $1,308.34 an ounce at 0810 GMT compared with $1,321.37 late Monday. Taipei gained 0.51 per cent, or 48.87 points, to 9,569.17. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co was 0.38 per cent higher at Tw$133.0 while Hon Hai Precision gained 0.91 per cent to Tw$111.0. Wellington fell 0.24 per cent, or 12.47 points, to 5,115.40. Fletcher Building was down 0.11 per cent at NZ$8.87 and Telecom eased 0.73 per cent to NZ$2.73. Manila ended flat, nudging up 3.67 points to 6,834.04. LT Group rose 3.79 per cent to 15.88 pesos, BDO Unibank was up 0.50 per cent at 90.55 pesos and Alliance Global added 0.90 per cent to 28.10 pesos. Kuala Lumpur was closed for a public holiday, according to AFP.