Asian markets rally due to Goldman, Intel earns

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Gains across the region were broad-based as recent pessimism about economic recovery gave way to relief that the U.S. corporate earnings season has not yet produced any big disappointments.

Investors have been focusing on earnings for clues about the state of the world’s largest economy, currently mired in its deepest recession in decades. The big rally in world markets between March and June stalled in the past few weeks as data suggested any economic recovery would be a long, hard slog. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average was up 17.98 points, or 0.2 percent, to 9,279.79 after gaining 2.3 percent the day before to snap a nine-session losing streak.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 285.25, or 1.6 percent, to 18,170.98 and South Korea’s Kospi gained 2.6 percent.

Elsewhere, Australia’s benchmark index gained 1.5 percent and China’s Shanghai index rose 0.9 percent.

Francis Lun, general manager at Fulbright Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong, said Asian markets were following through on gains in Europe and the U.S., though lacked the vigor of Tuesday’s rises. “Bank results were better than expected” and were helping to buy markets, he said of the Goldman results, though added that Asia’s performance “is not as strong.”

Goldman Sachs reported second quarter earnings of $2.72 billion, up on last year’s $2.05 billion, and easily surpassing forecasts. Other big U.S. banks, such as Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp., will be reporting earnings later this week.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 27.81, or 0.3 percent, to 8,359.49. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 4.79, or 0.5 percent, to 905.84, while the NASDAQ composite index rose 6.52, or 0.4 percent, to 1,799.73.

Kim Joong-hyun, a strategist at Good morning Shinhan Securities in Seoul, said that earnings results announced by U.S. chipmaker Intel after the close of Wall Street trading were also providing support for markets.

The chipmaker posted sales and profit that breezed past Wall Street’s forecasts - though investors had to overlook a $1.45 billion antitrust fine from the European Union. The fine gave the world’s biggest semiconductor company its first quarterly net loss since 1986.

Other big nonfinancial companies such as Google Inc. and General Electric Co. are due to report earnings soon.

Oil prices rose above $60 a barrel in Asia as investors looked to a weekly inventory report for clues on U.S. gasoline demand. Benchmark crude for August delivery was up 68 cents to $60.20 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Tuesday, the contract fell 17 cents to settle at $59.52.

In currencies, the dollar fell to 93.54 yen from 93.60 yen while the euro rose to $1.3981 from $1.3969.