Asian Stock Markets Gain After North Korea Rocket Launch Fails

Asian stock markets ended with gains for the second day Friday after North Korean's much touted long-range rocket launch failed.

In a rare admission of failure, North Korea's official news agency, KCNA, confirmed that its satellite, launched in defiance of its Asian neighbors and the West, failed to enter the orbit after the rocket bearing it exploded. Scientists and technicians are looking into the cause of the failure, according to a Xinhua report.

Meanwhile, the improved sentiment in global markets also added to the sentiment. All the three major benchmark indices in the US surged more than 1.3 percent Thursday after Fed officials reiterated that US monetary policy would remain highly accommodative through late 2014.

The much touted launch of a North Korean missile which apparently failed also added to the sentiment.

Japanese shares surged on news that North Korean rocket crashed into the sea minutes after lift-off. Benchmark Nikkei surged 1.19 percent or 113.20 points to 9,637.99. Financial and real estate sector shares led that rally.

Among the stocks, Mizuho Financial Group surged 3.97 percent and Nomura Holdings gained 3.21 percent, while retailer Ryohin Keikaku advanced 2.63 percent.

Chinese shares also advanced along with the other Asian peers but weaker-than-expected growth data limited gains. Chinese Shanghai Composite gained 0.35 percent or 8.30 points to 2,359.16 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 1.72 percent or 349.95 points to 20,677.27.

China's gross domestic product growth slowed down to 8.1 percent in the first quarter, the lowest quarterly growth rate in three years, owing to a global demand weakness and reduced real estate investments, while economists' expected 8.4 percent growth. GDP growth was 8.9 percent in the fourth quarter last year whereas in 2011 and 2010 the economy had expanded at the rate of 9.2 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively.

This shows that the growth momentum has been getting weaker. Though industrial production accelerated slightly, fixed asset investment slowed. Overall, the set of numbers suggest that the economy may not have bottomed out yet, a note from Credit Agricole said.

South Korean shares gained for the first time in three days after news that North Korean long-range rocket launch crashed into the sea minutes after lift-off.

Benchmark Seoul Composite surged 1.12 percent or 22.28 points to 2,008.91. Samsung Engineering Co Ltd. surged 5.48 percent and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering gained 5.9 percent, while Hynix Semiconductor rallied 6.62 percent.