Foreign currency dealers work in front of monitors displaying the Korea Composite Stock Price Index and the exchange rate between the South Korean won and the US dollar in a dealing room at the Korea Exchange Bank headquarters in Seoul (file). Asian markets mostly climbed yesterday on hopes for a fresh stimulus drive by the US Federal Reserve. Seoul index climbed 0.65%, or 12.35 points
AFP/Tokyo

Asian markets mostly climbed yesterday on hopes for a fresh stimulus drive by the US Federal Reserve to kick-start its economy while G20 leaders pledged to “restore confidence” in world finances.
European heads at the G20 summit in Mexico also vowed to begin looking at a region-wide banking union as they attempted to soothe investor concerns over the debt-riddled eurozone.
Tokyo rose 1.11%, adding 96.44 points to end at 8,752.31, Seoul climbed 0.65%, or 12.35 points, to 1,904.12 and Sydney closed 0.22%, or 9.1 points, higher at 4,132.4.
Hong Kong ended 0.53% higher, adding 102.18 points to 19,518.85 but Shanghai was off 0.34%, or 7.92 points, at 2,292.88.
All eyes were on Washington, where the Fed would wrap up a two-day meeting that many expect to end with a fresh injection of capital to shore up the sputtering US economic recovery as jobs growth slows.
Some economists say policymakers could start a third round of asset purchases known as quantitative easing (QE3) or use other tools at their disposal.
“Hopes for more easing are certainly a factor stoking enthusiasm for equities globally,” Tatsunori Kawai, chief strategist at kabu.com Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.
And Wee-Khoon Chong, Asia rates strategist at Societe Generale in Hong Kong, said: “Expectations are now running at full steam, so (policymakers) have to deliver now.”
In the Mexican resort of Los Cabos, European leaders scrambled to buy themselves time in the battle to save the eurozone, promising their G20 partners they would integrate their banking sector and restart growth.
In a joint communique the heads of the 20 biggest developed and developing economies pledged to “take the necessary actions to strengthen global growth and restore confidence”.
The heads of Europe’s major economies agreed “to consider concrete steps towards a more integrated financial architecture, encompassing banking supervision, resolution and recapitalisation, and deposit insurance”.
The meeting looked to calm markets that have been rattled by Europe’s struggling banking system, especially that of Spain, which this month was promised up to $125bn to help troubled lenders.
Looking ahead to next week’s European summit, when a more concrete action plan is expected to emerge, International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde said: “In Los Cabos the seeds of a pan-European recovery plan were planted.”
In other markets in Asia, Singapore closed up 0.47%, or 13.27 points, to 2,855.68; Taipei rose 0.85%, or 61.50 points, to 7,334.63; Manila rose 1.28%, or 64.85 points, to close at 5,146.46; Wellington fell 1.02%, or 35.59 points, to 3,444.79; Kuala Lumpur ended 0.59%, or 9.41 points, higher at 1,604.39; Jakarta rose 1.63%, or 63.08 points, to 3,943.90; and Bangkok closed almost unchanged, edging up 0.15 points to 1,173.24.