Markets rise pending Euro meeting

Asian stock markets were mostly higher today amid hopes that a summit of European leaders later this week will yield a breakthrough for fixing the eurozone's sovereign debt crisis.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.4% to 8,680.78 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.3% to 19,103.17.

South Korea’s Kospi rose marginally to 1,917.38. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.9% points to 4,325.60.

Benchmarks in mainland China, Indonesia, Singapore and Taiwan fell.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German chancellor Angela Merkel will meet in Paris today to prepare for a critical summit on December 9 of European Union leaders who are expected to unveil a major plan to tackle the region’s debt crisis.

One highly anticipated element of such a plan is tighter integration of the 17 countries that use the euro, especially on budget matters. That could trigger further emergency aid from the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund or some combination.