Overnight markets: Up

Japan’s Nikkei average rose almost 1 per cent on Tuesday, climbing for a second straight session. Reuters says markets rose on hopes for a eurozone crisis solution and on the start to the US shopping season, but was also driven by short-covering after four weeks of losses. But the gains were more measured than on Monday amid continued caution over Europe’s debt crisis, says the FT, with the MSCI Asia Pacific index edging up 0.3 per cent.

Nintendo rose 2.1 per cent in Osaka while Fanuc gained 1.7 per cent and TDK Corp added 1.5 per cent in Tokyo. Olympus jumped 3.4 per cent, after dropping nearly 11 per cent in the previous session. In Seoul, Samsung Electronics rose 1.9 per cent and LG Electronics jumped 2.5 per cent while Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s biggest automaker, added 2.6 per cent. Shipbuilders rallied on expectations of more orders, with Hyundai Mipo Dockyard up 7.6 per cent after local brokerage Daishin Securities recommended the stock, citing dividends and potential orders. Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world’s largest shipbuilder, advanced 2.5 per cent after receiving $22.9bn worth of orders in the first 10 months of this year, up 48 per cent from a year earlier. Resources stocks were also boosted. Jiangxi Copper rose 1 per cent and AngangSteel gained 1.5 per cent in Hong Kong while Daido Steel, a Japanese maker of steel products, surged 6.3 per cent in Tokyo after signing a joint venture with US-based Molycorp, a producer of rare earth products. Rio Tinto rose 0.5 per cent after Cameco Corp dropped its bid for Hathor, clearing the way for Rio Tinto’s C$654m friendly offer.

Asian markets
Nikkei 225 up +108.92 (+1.31%) at 8,396
Topix up +9.22 (+1.29%) at 724.92
Hang Seng up +83.65 (+0.46%) at 18,121

US markets
S&P 500 up +33.88 (+2.92%) at 1,193
DJIA up +291.23 (+2.59%) at 11,523
Nasdaq up +85.83 (+3.52%) at 2,527

European markets
Eurofirst 300 up +32.96 (+3.63%) at 940.88
FTSE100 up +148.11 (+2.87%) at 5,313
CAC 40 up +155.96 (+5.46%) at 3,013
Dax up +252.46 (+4.60%) at 5,745

Currencies
€/$ 1.33 (1.33)
$/¥ 78.01 (77.98)
£/$ 1.55 (1.55)

Commodities ($)
Brent Crude (ICE) down -0.19 at 108.81
Light Crude (Nymex) down -0.65 at 97.56
100 Oz Gold (Comex) down -0.30 at 1,711
Copper (Comex) down -0.10 at 335.95

10-year government bond yields (%)
US 1.97
UK 2.30
Germany 2.33
Japan 1.05

CDS (closing levels)
Markit iTraxx SovX Western Europe -10.17bps at 374.86bp
Markit iTraxx Europe -5.91bps at 199.47bp
Markit iTraxx Xover -33.56bps at 800.69bp
Markit CDX IG -4.86bps at 141.18bp

Sources: FT, Bloomberg, Markit