Asian Shares Mostly Higher Friday
TOKYO (AP) -- Asian shares were mostly higher Friday, cheered by a jump on Wall Street as strong earnings reports from market bellwethers like Microsoft and Comcast gave a confidence boost to investors shaken by the recent wave of selling.
KEEPING SCORE: Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.5 percent to 21,383.73 in early trading. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.3 percent to 5,681.50. South Korea's Kospi was down 0.6 percent at 2,050.13. Hong Kong's Hang Seng inched up less than 0.1 percent at 25,006.01, and the Shanghai Composite rose 0.4 percent to 2,614.43.
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WALL STREET: The rally wiped out a large part of the market's plunge from the day before. The S&P 500 index jumped 49.47 points, or 1.9 percent, to 2,705.57. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 401.13 points, or 1.6 percent, to 24,984.55 after rising as much as 520 points during the day. The Nasdaq surged 209.93 points, or 3 percent, to 7,318.34 after its biggest drop in seven years.
MARKET WORRIES: Investors are worried that rising interest rates and disputes with trading partners could hurt economic growth and corporate profits. They get more insight into how the American economy is doing later in the day when the U.S. government reports on economic growth during the third quarter.
THE QUOTE: "Asian stocks are set for an uptick in early morning trade following the bounce back on Wall Street," says Oriano Lizza, a trader at CMC Markets in Singapore.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude fell 52 cents to $66.81 a barrel. Brent crude, the benchmark for international oil prices, dipped 39 cents to $76.50.
CURRENCIES: The dollar climbed to 112.43 yen from 112.27 yen. The euro fell to $1.1366 from $1.1406.
(BE)