Asian stocks make modest gains

Asian stocks plodded higher today, tracking slight gains on Wall Street and assisted by an absence of bad financial news.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index – reopening after a three-day holiday weekend – rose 0.5% to 8,427.83.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.3% to 18,915.61 while South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.6% to 1,856.42. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 rose 0.9% at 4,140.40.

Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia and mainland China also rose. New Zealand’s fell.

Markets found “some relief on the lack of specific negative news”, analysts at Credit Agricole CIB said in a report. They added, however, that no dramatic upturns were expected.

As attention shifts to upcoming sovereign bond auctions in Europe and a European Central Bank policy meeting, “investors will likely remain cautious”, analysts said.

On Wall Street, stocks remained subdued yesterday. The Dow closed up 0.3% at 12,392.69. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 0.2% to 1,280.70. The Nasdaq composite index rose 0.1% to 2,676.56.

European markets closed lower yesterday. French and German leaders met to craft the regional fiscal treaty that they agreed to pursue last year.

The treaty would strengthen controls of spending by the 17 countries that use the euro. Excessive borrowing by nations such as Greece has hurt the European economy and roiled the financial industry.

Ireland, Greece and Portugal have all been bailed out but the fear in the markets is that much-bigger Italy and Spain may end up needing financial assistance.

The yield on Italy’s benchmark 10-year bonds on Monday continued to hover around the 7% mark, widely considered to be unsustainable in the long run.