Asian Stocks Rise As Stimulus Hopes Prevail

Most of the Asian markets rose Tuesday as investors maintained hopes about monetary easing measures from policymakers around the world to tackle the weakening of the global economic growth.

The Chinese Shanghai Composite advanced 0.79 percent or 16.74 points to 2123.70. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was marginally down 0.04 percent or 8.30 points to 20095.97. Among major gainers were Sands China Ltd (2.91 percent) and China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd (1.53 percent).

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was up 0.13 percent or 12.09 points to 9183.25. Among major gainers were Konami Corp (2.86 percent), Fujitsu Ltd (2.48 percent) and Softbank Corp (2.07 percent).

South Korea's KOSPI Composite Index rose 0.48 percent or 9.34 points to 1955.65. Shares of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd advanced 1.25 percent and shares of Hyundai Motor Co rose 0.62 percent.

India's BSE Sensex rose 0.40 percent or 71.17 points to 17762.25. Among major gainers were Maruti Suzuki India (1.10 percent), Infosys (0.45 percent) and ICICI Bank (0.34 percent).

Market players sense the need for further quantitative easing measures from the U.S. Federal Reserve to revive growth. Economic activity slowed sharply in the U.S. from 4.1 percent annualized rate in the fourth quarter of 2011 to the first estimate of 1.5 percent in the second quarter of this year. Investors expect that the U.S. is likely to achieve only 2 percent growth for the year as a whole.

The same situation prevails in Japan where the GDP figures reveal that growth slowed down in the second quarter compared to that in the first quarter. Investors feel that the Bank of Japan will have to come up with bold measures to improve the country's economic condition.

The biggest drag on the global growth continues to be the debt burden faced by the euro zone. With the increase in borrowing costs weighing down the Spanish and Italian economies, investors sense that the European Central Bank will have to urgently announce bond purchasing policy.