Asian stock markets modestly as Apple's quarterly earnings power gains in technology shares

Published November 17, 2014

TOKYO (AP) — Asian stock markets posted mild gains Wednesday after better-than-expected earnings from technology bellwether Apple nudged Wall Street higher.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average snapped a three-session losing streak during which the index lost 5 percent. The Nikkei finished the morning session up 0.2 percent at 9,321.65.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.7 percent to 20,410.80, South Korea's Kospi added 0.6 percent to 1,748.00, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.4 percent to 4,419.00.

Mainland China's benchmark fell after big gains in the previous two sessions.

Notable gainers included tech issues, which jumped after Apple blew past expectations with its latest quarterly report Tuesday. The company's net income rose 78 percent to $3.25 billion and revenue for the April-to-June period rose 61 percent to a record high of $15.7 billion.

Sony Corp. rose 1.3 percent, and Sharp Corp. jumped 1.6 percent. Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. advanced 1.5 percent.

In Australia, miner BHP Billiton Ltd. was up 1.9 percent after reporting iron ore production rose 16 percent in the April-June quarter.

The Dow Jones industrials rose 0.7 percent to 10,229.96 in an erratic day of trading Tuesday.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.1 percent to 1,083.48, and the Nasdaq composite index climbed 1.1 percent to 2,222.49.

In currencies, the dollar fell to 87.28 yen from 87.32 yen in New York late Tuesday. The euro rose to $1.2897 from $1.2892.

Benchmark crude for July delivery was down 1 cent at $77.57 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 90 cents to settle at $77.44 on Tuesday.

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