A third straight Wall Street rally shoved Asian sharemarkets solidly higher today, with major indexes rising around two per cent in morning trading.
Investors shrugged their shoulders at the latest revelation from WorldCom, which it had found another $3.3 billion in accounting errors, almost doubling its disclosed earnings exaggerations.
Automotive stocks helped in Tokyo, where the benchmark Nikkei average was 2.2 per cent higher at 10,015.94 by 6.44 a.m. Irish time.
Traders said the market had also gained from a strengthening in the US dollar, which would make Japanese exports more competitive.
Hong Kong moved ahead on the same factor that had propelled New York: an IMF bailout of Brazil agreed this week was seen protecting the financial exposure of major banks, in this case HSBC Holdings Plc.
The market's Hang Seng Index had risen 1.6 per cent to 10,125.17 by 6.20 a.m. Irish time, although traders expected continued volatility.
"The market is riding on Wall Street but the US market is still very jumpy, so near-term, this market will remain unsettled," said Mr Herbert Lau, research director at Celestial Asia Securities.
In New York yesterday the Dow Jones industrial average jumped 3.03 per cent to 8,712.02, with banking giants such as Citigroup showing marked gains. The wider Standard & Poor's 500 Index closed 3.27 per cent higher at 905.46.
"People are sensing we're close to a bottom after having had some sharp rallies," said Mr Matt Holscher, head of Nasdaq trading for WR Hambrecht & Co. "The first phase was short-covering. Now people are dipping their toes in the water and thinking it might be a decent time to get involved."
A $30-billion bailout package for Brazil, which the International Monetary Fund signed on Wednesday, helped ease fears that the major South American economy might default on its $250 billion public debt.