(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Asian stocks broadly rose yesterday as investors cheered a tentative deal to extend Greece's bailout, giving Athens a last-minute lifeline to pay its bills and avoid a damaging default.
Tokyo led the charge with the benchmark Nikkei adding to a 15-year high as it rose 0.73%, or 134.62 points, to finish at 18,466.92.
Sydney was up 0.45%, or 26.46 points, at 5,908.0, and Seoul closed 0.35%, or 6.94 points, higher at 1,968.39.
Hong Kong crawled out of negative territory with the Hang Seng closing 0.02%, or 4.68 points, higher at 24,836.76.
Exchanges in Taiwan and mainland China are closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
Asian shares picked up on a strong lead from Wall Street which surged to fresh records on Friday after Greece was granted a provisional four-month debt bailout extension, easing worries over its future in the eurozone.
European finance ministers gave Athens until yesterday to present proposals that would persuade creditors to keep its loan lifeline open.
"Discussions over Greece have been tipping toward the EU compromising, so the market consensus is that the worst-case scenario will be avoided," Shoji Hirakawa, chief equity strategist at Okasan Securities in Tokyo, told Bloomberg News.
"It's difficult to maintain a short position."
But Australia & New Zealand Banking Group warned that the bailout extension offered only a "small window of reprieve".
"Continued geopolitical ructions with Russia over the Ukraine, as well as the unrest in the Middle East, means there are many issues that will continue to hold sway in political discussions, distracting politicians from economic policy," it added.
The West sounded more forceful warnings over Ukraine's battered truce on Sunday as fighting raged around the port city of Mariupol and the warring sides wrangled over withdrawing heavy weapons.
Investors were also looking ahead to Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's Congressional testimony starting from today as markets seek fresh clues on the timeline for a US interest rate rise, widely expected by mid-year.
In forex trading, the euro slipped to $1.1343 and 135.20 yen, from $1.1381 and 135.51 yen on Friday in New York where it got a boost from the conditional Greek debt deal.
The dollar rose to 119.21 yen from 119.03 yen in US trade.
Oil briefly rebounded following a sharp decline last week, but worries about oversupply weighed on rates in late afternoon trading.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for April delivery fell 71 cents to $50.25 while Brent crude for April lost 86 cents to $59.57.
Gold fetched $1,198.36 an ounce from $1,209.13 on Friday.
In other markets, Wellington edged up 0.09%, or 5.41 points, to 5,754.36 and Manila closed 0.01%, or 0.68 points, higher at 7,826.07.
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