Updated on
Summary Asian stock markets mostly advanced as Greece looked set to get bailout.
Asian stock markets mostly advanced Tuesday as Europe prepared to make good on its pledge to provide another installment of emergency aid to keep Greece from tumbling into insolvency.South Koreas Kospi added 0.2 percent to 1,922.05 and Hong Kongs Hang Seng was 0.7 percent at higher 19,822.91. Australias S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.5 percent to 4,294.30 while Japans Nikkei 225 index fell 0.2 percent to 8,751.86.Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia and mainland China rose.Wall Street finished higher Monday on news that Greece would receive the latest installment of emergency aid as long as the countrys two main parties commit to implementing economic reforms agreed to by the countrys previous government.The Dow rose 0.7 percent to close at 12,068.39. The Standard & Poors 500 index rose 0.6 percent to 1,261.12. The Nasdaq rose 0.3 percent to 2,695.25.Even as Greeces economy remained on life support, worries began to surface about Italy, where the prospect of financial disaster was real because of Romes huge debts and slow growth. Unlike Greece, Ireland and Portugal the three countries that Europe has already bailed out Italys economy could be too large to rescue.In Tokyo, embattled Olympus Corp. plummeted 28 percent amid reports it had admitted wrongdoing in a scandal over huge payments for financial advise, Kyodo News Agency reported.In energy trading, benchmark crude for December delivery was up 13 cents at $95.65 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.26 to settle at $95.52 in New York on Monday.
