By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Asian stocks advanced Tuesday,
buoyed by gains overnight on Wall Street as U.S. lawmakers appeared
to make progress toward raising the U.S. debt limit as that
deadline approaches.
Investors in Tokyo and Hong Kong, returing from three-day
weekends for both markets, considered remarks by Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid, who said on the Senate floor that he was "very
optimistic" about concluding a deal "this week" to raise the debt
limit as well as end the government shutdown. Sen. Mitch McConnell,
the minority leader, said he shared Reid's feeling that "we'll get
a result that's acceptable to both sides."
Keying off Wall Street's turn higher on anticipation of deals in
Washington, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.6%, and in Tokyo,
the Nikkei Stock Average gained 0.4%. The S&P/ASX 200 in
Australia climbed 0.9%, as did South Korea's Kospi .
But the Shanghai Composite lagged, with a 0.3% loss nearly
wiping out Monday's rise of 0.4%.
Markets worldwide have been watching Washington as it nears an
Oct. 17 deadline for Congress to allow the Treasury to borrow in
order to pay the government's bills. Without legislative action,
the U.S. could default on its debt obligations at a time when the
global economy is still recovering from the financial crisis.
Mining shares traded in Sydney were mostly higher, following
overnight gains for gold and copper prices, with BHP Billiton Ltd.
(BHP) up 1% and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. (FSUMY) adding 3.7%.
Stock in Rio Tinto Ltd. (RIO) picked up 1.7% ahead of the release
of the miner's quarterly production report.
Asian financial blue chips also logged gains ahead of a possible
resolution to fully reopen the U.S. government, which has been in a
partial shutdown since Oct. 1. National Australia Bank Ltd. [s: and
Westpac Banking Corp. [s: rose 0.7% and 1%, respectively, while
Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. (SMFJY) was up
0.9%.
Chinese banking stocks moved higher following central-bank data
showing financial institutions issued 787 billion yuan ($128.8
billion) in new loans in September, more than the 674.5 billion
yuan in loans expected in a Wall Street Journal survey of
analysts.
Hong Kong-traded shares of Agricultural Bank of China Ltd.
picked up 0.8%, and those of China Construction Bank Corp. rose
0.6%.
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