Asian Stocks Finish Higher
Updated from 12:29 a.m. EST
Asian stocks rose Tuesday, with markets in Japan finishing higher by 5.2% as Wall Street had a second strong day , boosted by the U.S. government's bailout of financial giant
Citigroup
(C) - Get Citigroup Inc. Report
.
Japan's Nikkei 225 stock closed higher by 5.2% to 8323.93. Markets in Japan were closed Monday for a holiday.
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 3.4%, while the S&P/ASX 200 index in Australia finished up 5.8%. Markets in Australia closed before news broke that Melbourne, Australia-based
BHP Billiton
(BHP) - Get BHP Group Limited American Depositary Shares (Each representing two) Report
had abandoned its multi-billion dollar bid for
Rio Tinto
( RTP).
Japanese officials in Tokyo hailed Washington's move on Citigroup.
Economy Minister Kaoru Yosano called the plan a "courageous decision" to save the massive global banking company, noting that the world's economy could be affected by Citigroup's fate, according to the
Kyodo
news agency.
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All three of Japan's "megabanks" climbed, with
Mitsubishi UFJ
(MTU)
,
Mizuho Financial
(MFG) - Get Mizuho Financial Group Inc. Sponosred ADR (Japan) Report
, and
Sumitomo Mitsui
finishing to the upside.
Stocks in Europe were trading lower. The FTSE 100 index in London fell 1.3%, while the DAX in Frankfurt declined 0.9%. Shares of Rio Tinto tumbled more than 30% after BHP, the world's largest mining company, withdrew its bid, citing current economic conditions.
Premarket futures in the U.S. were indicating a lower opening Tuesday for stocks on Wall Street.
S&P 500
futures fell 7.10 points to 840.90, and were 9.72 points below fair value.
Nasdaq
futures dropped 12 points to 1135, and were trading 19.51 points below fair value.
On Monday, U.S. stocks soared into the close after the government announced an aid package for Citigroup and President-elect Barack Obama unveiled key members of his economic team.
The
Dow Jones Industrial Average
, which had earlier climbed as much as 552 points, ended the day with a gain of 396.97 points, or 4.9%, at 8443.39. The S&P 500 surged 51.78 points, or 6.5%, to 851.81. Nasdaq gained 87.67 points, or 6.3%, at 1472.02.
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