Asia stocks ... high and higher!

Oil prices softened but remained above $102 per barrel. The dollar
rose against the euro and was steady against the yen.

On the first trading day of 2012 in Japan, the Nikkei 225 showed
renewed life as it posted a 1.1 percent gain to 8,550.93. The battered
benchmark lost nearly 20 percent of its value in 2011 - a year marred
by a tsunami and nuclear plant disaster, made all the more difficult
by record-high levels for the yen.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index and South Korea's Kospi slipped after
strong gains a day earlier. The Hang Seng fell 0.3 percent to
18,822.68, while the Kospi was down 0.4 percent at 1,868.48.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.5 percent to 12,397.38, its
highest close in more than five months. The Standard & Poor's 500
index was up 1.5 percent at 1,277.06. The Nasdaq closed up 1.7 percent
at 2,648.72.

Asia stocks follow Wall Street higher
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2012/01/04/asia-stocks-follow-wall-street-higher.html