Asian Shares Rise; Hang Seng Gains 2.2%

Asian stocks rose Wednesday after Wall Street posted its best two-day performance in three months on better-than-expected earnings reports and encouraging housing data.
By Joseph Woelfel ,

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) -- Asian stocks rose Wednesday after Wall Street posted its best two-day performance in three months on better-than-expected earnings from the likes of

UPS

(UPS) - Get Report

and encouraging housing data.

The Nikkei 225 stock average in Tokyo rose 0.3% to 10,404.33 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 2.2%. The benchmark index in China rose 2.4%.

Shares of

Toyota

(TM) - Get Report

fell almost 6% in Tokyo Wednesday as the world's No. 1 automaker continues to wrestle with a massive global recall because of sticking gas pedals.

Honda

(HMC) - Get Report

shares rose 2.3% prior to its reporting that third-quarter earnings topped analysts' forecasts and it raised its

full-year earnings forecast

.

Stocks in London, Frankfurt and Paris were higher by 0.2% to 0.4%.

Premarket futures in the U.S. suggested stocks would open higher on Wall Street Wednesday.

The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

gained 111 points, or 1.1%, to 10,297 on Tuesday. The

S&P 500

gained 14 points, or 1.3%, at 1103 and the

Nasdaq

finished up by 19 points, or 0.9%, to 2190.

The National Association of Realtors on Tuesday said its pending-home sales index rose 1% in December, putting it 10.9% higher from a year earlier. Economists had been expecting an increase of 1.1%.

-- Reported by Joseph Woelfel in New York.

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