2013.07.2301:32:40UTC+00Asian stocks soar on U.S. cues; metal shares strengthen

Asian stocks surged Tuesday after a greater finish on Wall Street, with the resources sector pulling higher on a hike in metal prices, while telecommunication shares bolstered in Japan, outweighing the impact from a stronger yen.

South Korea’s Kospi traded 0.9% higher, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped 0.2%, and Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average hop 0.3% forward after a slump opening.

The performance came after the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index boosted to a fresh record overnight, despite a weak set of quarterly results from McDonald’s Corp.

“Markets have gradually digested the message that Fed tapering need not equate to an earlier onset of policy rate hikes and see this as broadly priced in by now. We expect markets to give more weight to fundamental issues in the near term,” Barclays analysts wrote in a report.

Several metals companies advanced around the region after gold and silver prices jumped in U.S. trading.

Korea Zinc Co. increased 3.1% in Seoul, Newcrest Mining Ltd. develop a 6.2% increase and Perseus Mining Ltd. hike 1.6% in Sydney, while Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. recorded a 4.5% gain in Tokyo.

Incitec Pivot Ltd. slumped 2.6% after the chemicals maker warned of a lower second-half profit because of an outage at its Phosphate Hill fertilizer plant.

In Tokyo, telecommunication shares extended their recent advances, with KDDI Corp. spiking 1.5%, and Softbank Corp. leaping 1.9%.

Their advance helped counter broad losses in exports as the U.S. dollar exchanged below the ¥100-level.

Shares of Hino Motors Ltd. gave up 3%, while farm-and-construction-equipment maker Kubota Corp. relinquished 3%.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. backslide 1.8%, after the Nikkei newspaper reported it will likely post a 7% growth in group operating profit for the quarter ended June 30.

Tokyo Electric Power Co. downtrend 3% after Kyodo News reported the company admitted that contaminated water from the disaster-struck Fukushima nuclear plant was leaking into the Pacific Ocean.