Asian markets end mostly higher, tech shares rally

Asian markets ended mostly in the green on Tuesday on back of losses in steel makers on earnings concerns, but tech shares lend support.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average added 16 points, at 10,519 led by gains in IT shares. Shares of Samsung Electronics Co, a rival to Apple in some business areas and the world's top memory chipmaker, jumped as much as 3.3 percent to record highs after a newspaper report that Japan's Elpida planned to raise chip prices by about 10 percent. However steelmakers weighed after a report by the Nikkei business daily that Nippon Steel Corp would likely fall short of its pretax profit forecast.

China's Shanghai Composite gained 2.5 points after trading in the red for most part of the day, the index ended at 2,709 on back of bargain buying which also helped restore investor confidence. Also state-run Chinese Securities Reported that China’s gross domestic product grew 10.1% in 2009, Hong Kong's Heng Seng pared all the gains and ended flat at 24, 153, down 3 points. MSCI index of Asia and Pacific shares excluding Japan rose 0.5%.

South Korea's Kospi Composite ended marginally lower by 4 points, at 2,097.  Straits Times and Seoul Composite surged 0.1% and 1.1% each and Taiwan Weighted gained 1.1%.

While technology companies rallied in Asia, news that Apple Inc CEO Steve Jobs is taking medical leave for the third time since 2004 also prompted the view that its Asian rivals may slow the runaway success of the iPhone and iPad maker. But investors wanted to see Wall Street's reaction later in the day. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index Nasdaq 100 Index futures fell marginally indicating  weak opening in the US markets after the three day holiday.

European markets opened on a firm note supported by gains in banking and mining shares The FTSE 100 rose 0.7% to 6,025.38, while the French CAC 40 index rose 0.5% to 3,995.42. The German DAX 30 rose 0.4% to 7,014.47,