SINGAPORE, Nov 25 - Big gains on Wall Street sparked tech-led rallies on Asia's share markets on Tuesday, while the dollar grinded higher in anticipation of a strong revision to U.S. growth data. Banks also rose ahead of quarterly earnings at Japan's major institutions and as South Korea moved to head off a credit crisis that had threatened to spread through the financial system. Top Japanese exporters, such as Canon Inc <7751.T>, rose on the dollar's strength, which makes Japanese goods cheaper in the United States, their biggest market. The Nikkei Index <.N225> spent most of the morning session above 10,000 but retreated to 9972.36 at the midday break, a gain of 1.21 percent. "Today's rise is based solely on Wall Street and the currency move. The Nikkei is struggling to rise much above 10,000 with no domestic buying factor in sight."
An MSCI index of Asian markets outside of Japan <.MSICAPJ> rose 1.1 percent by 0220 GMT, led by sharp gains on the main markets of South Korea <.KS11> and Taiwan <.TWII>. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index <.HSI> started with a 1.2 percent gain, shrugging off news of anti-dumping duties being imposed on Hong Kong-listed Chinese television maker TCL International <1070.HK>. TCL's stock fell almost three percent. The dollar inched up against the yen ahead of U.S. GDP figures at 1330 GMT, which analysts surveyed by expect to show thrid-quarter annualised growth of 7.8 percent, up from a previous figure of 7.2 percent. But many traders said Japanese exporters were ready to sell ahead of the data. "Even if it does reach eight percent, I don't think it will lead to a sustained rally since nobody thinks the growth rate will continue into the fourth quarter," said Mitsuo Imaizumi, deputy general manager of the international bond and forex department at Daiwa Securities SMBC. The dollar moved up to 109.38 yen compared with 109.33 in late U.S. trade. The euro was at $1.1777 and at 128.82 yen .
INSPIRED BY WALL STREET
U.S. stocks rallied on Monday. The Nasdaq jumped 2.81 percent <.IXIC> -- its biggest one-day percentage gain since July -- and the Dow Jones <.DJI> had its biggest daily percentage gain for the month, rising 1.24 percent. Shares in South Korea were led 1.4 percent higher by banking shares and a one percent gain in technology bellwether Samsung Electronics Co Ltd <005930.KS>. South Korea's major financial subindex <.KS49> jumped 2.5 percent as investors took heart from measures to save cash-strapped LG Card <032710.KS>. Techs led the rally in Taiwan. The electronics subindex there <.TELI> jumped 1.2 percent on Wall Street's rise. Banks in Taiwan outperformed the tech gains, with the financials subindex <.TFNI> rising 2.2 percent. Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> advanced 0.9 percent, led by 1 two percent gain for News Corp . Markets in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia were closed for a holiday to mark the end of Ramadan. Spot gold was flat while NYMEX crude oil futures were steady after sharp losses in New York. NYMEX January crude settled $1.87, or nearly six percent lower at $29.74 a barrel in New York, as traders took profits on price rises last week . In Asia it recovered 17 cents to $29.91.//www.s.com