Asia markets gain on Wall St lead

Asian markets rose yesterday thanks to a positive lead from Wall Street, but gains were capped by lingering doubts about an upcoming European Union summit aimed at tackling the eurozone debt crisis Tokyo closed up 0.77%, or 66.50 points, at 8,730.49, while Sydney closed 0.75%, or 29.9 points, up at 4,043.2 and Hong Kong added 1.03%, or 195.11 points, to 19,176.95. But Seoul ended flat, edging down 0.16 points to close at 1,817.65 and Shanghai was 0.23% lower, shedding 5.14 points to 2,216.93. US markets were given a boost by the S&P Case-Shiller price index for 20 major US cities, which rose for the third straight month in April. The modest rise in the US market, caused by property prices falling less than expected, provided a fillip as the sector is a key component in the world’s biggest economy. However, separately the Conference Board reported that consumers grew more pessimistic about the economy for the fourth consecutive month in June. The Dow gained 0.26%, the S&P 500 rose 0.48% and the Nasdaq added 0.63%. Eyes are on Europe, with leaders meeting in Brussels for two days of talks from today to consider proposals to give EU authorities more power over national budgets, and to centralise banking supervision.But economists are unconvinced they will be able to overcome their differences to hammer out a coherent deal. Some of the region’s top finance chiefs met in Paris Tuesday to try to pave the way for a summit deal. French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici said the gathering would be anything but “banal” and would tackle real issues, while Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti vowed to work overtime to save the euro. “We cannot allow this extraordinary European piece of work to which Italy has always contributed to go bust,” Monti said in a speech to the Italian parliament. The meeting comes against a backdrop of a downgrade for 28 Spanish lenders by Moody’s and an appeal by Madrid for rescue cash to prop up its banking sector. This week also saw Cyprus become the latest eurozone member to ask for a handout as its economy struggles owing to its exposure to Greece’s debt mountain. In other markets in Asia, Singapore closed up 1.28%, or 35.97 points, to 2,841.60; Jakarta rose 1.38%, or 53.47 points, to 3,934.87; Bangkok rose 1.29%, or 14.89 points, to 1,165.98; Kuala Lumpur ended 0.49%, or 7.79 points higher, at 1,601.89; Wellington added 0.19%, or 6.46 points, to 3,387.78; Manila gained 1.23%, or 64.08 points, to close at 5,257.92; and Taipei rose 0.63%, or 45.08 points, to 7,183.01.