Asia stocks up after S&P hits record; Nikkei slips

Pamela Sampson, The Associated Press, Bangkok | Business | Tue, April 30 2013, 2:05 PM

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Asian stock markets rose Tuesday, brushing off tepid Japanese manufacturing data after the Standard & Poor's 500 index closed at another all-time high.
Better-than-expected pending homes sales for March renewed faith in the U.S. economic recovery. The number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes reached the highest level in three years. Wages and spending in the U.S. also rose last month.
However, data out of Japan showing only modest improvement in manufacturing dampened sentiment there. Factory output rose 0.2 percent in March, its fourth straight monthly increase. However, the number fell short of expectations and analysts continue to believe the country's economic recovery remains relatively weak.
"While export revenues have been boosted strongly by yen depreciation and consumers' confidence has also jumped, the recovery in export volumes and actual consumer spending remained comparatively slow," analysts at DBS Bank Ltd. in Singapore said in a commentary.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.4 percent to 13,824.66. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.7 percent to 22,745.44. South Korea's Kospi advanced 1 percent to 1,962.86.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.8 percent to 5,168.80. Benchmarks in Indonesia, Taiwan, Singapore, New Zealand and the Philippines also advanced.
Sentiment also has been boosted in recent days by expectations that the European Central Bank will reduce interest rates on Thursday.
The Federal Reserve concludes a policy meeting Wednesday and is not expected to make changes in its super-loose monetary policy. On Friday, U.S. nonfarm payrolls data for April will be published, a key gauge of employment in the world's No. 1 economy.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.7 percent to close at 14,818.75 on Monday. The S&P 500 rose 0.7 percent to 1,593.61, a record high. The Nasdaq composite index rose 0.9 percent to 3,307.02.
Benchmark oil for June delivery was down 17 cents to $94.33 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.50 to finish at $94.50 on the Nymex on Monday.
In currencies, the euro fell slightly to $1.3095 from $1.3097. The dollar fell to 97.94 yen from 98.01 yen.
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