Asia stocks were mostly higher Tuesday after European and U.S.
markets offered a muted reaction to elections that brought the
antiausterity Syriza party to power in Greece and set up a clash
between the country and its creditors.
The Nikkei Stock Average was up 1.5%, the Hang Seng Index rose
0.3% and Australia's S&P ASX 200 added 0.6%.
There had been fears Syriza's win could trigger renewed stress
in financial markets and increase the likelihood of a Greek exit
from the eurozone. But with U.S. stocks notching modest gains,
European markets inching higher and the euro recovering against the
dollar overnight, however, analysts said that the stress in Greece
was unlikely to spread to other countries in the European
Union.
A fresh stimulus program by the European Central Bank is also
expected to buoy markets.
In Japan, major exporters hurt by the yen's strength on Monday
rebounded. Tokyo Electron was up 1.7% and Olympus gained 2.7%.
The yen was flat against the U.S. dollar in Asia trade, with the
dollar fetching Yen118.55 recently. The yen was also flat against
the euro.
In China, the yuan strengthened slightly, to 6.4296 against the
U.S. dollar, after falling to a seven-month low on Monday.
The Philippines" PSE benchmark was up a fraction of a percentage
point after the country's trade balance for November swung to a
surplus. Imports slipped 10.8% year-to-year due to a fall in oil
prices and a double-digit drop in the purchases of transport
equipment.
Write to Chao Deng at Chao.Deng@wsj.com
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