A rally among U.S. technology shares spurred by results that beat analyst expectations boosted stock markets in Asia on Thursday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index was up 0.6 percent to 9,662.67, South Korea’s Kospi index rose 1.2 percent to 2,195.80, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was 0.7 percent higher to 24,071.15. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan and mainland China were also higher.
Asian tech shares enjoyed a spillover effect after earnings reported by U.S. technology behemoths like Intel Corp. and Apple Inc. beat analyst expectations.
Elpida Memory Inc., Japan’s cutting-dge chip maker, rose 2.8 percent. Korea’s Hynix Semiconductor soared 6.4 percent and LG Electronics rose 1.8 percent.
Rising crude prices, meanwhile, helped oil-related stocks. Inpex Corp., Japan’s largest energy explorer, jumped 4.3 percent. China National Offshore Oil Corp., or CNOOC, rose 1 percent. PetroChina Co. Ltd. was also up 1 percent.
Oil prices have increased 20 percent since the beginning of the year as investors anticipated rising global demand and unrest in North Africa and the Middle East threatened oil fields and shipping lanes vital to world supply.
Benchmark crude for June delivery rose 75 cents to $112.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $3.17 to settle at $111.45 on the Nymex on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, strong earnings from technology companies including Intel sent stocks sharply higher. The Nasdaq composite index had its biggest one-day jump in six months, and the Dow Jones industrial average closed at its highest level in nearly three years.
Intel rose 7.8 percent after the chip maker reported that its income rose 29 percent in the first quarter because of rising demand for personal computers. The results easily beat analysts’ expectations and allayed concerns that surging sales of tablet computers would hurt Intel’s results.
Apple announced late Wednesday that its earnings had nearly doubled, helped by demand of its iconic iPhone. Apple said net income for its fiscal second quarter, which ended March 26, was $5.99 billion. That’s up 95 percent from $3.07 billion a year ago.
Yahoo Inc. rose 4.6 percent after reporting that cost-utting efforts pushed its earnings above Wall Street’s expectations. IBM Corp. also beat earnings expectations.
The Dow jumped 1.5 percent to close at 12,453.54. That’s the highest close since June 5, 2008. The Nasdaq rose 2.1 percent to 2,802.51. The tech-heavy index hadn’t jumped that much since Oct. 5. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 1.4 percent to 1,330.36.
Stocks took a steep slide Monday after Standard & Poor’s warned that it might lower its rating on U.S. government debt in the next two years. The Dow lost 140 points.
