Asian Markets Surge on Citigroup Bailout

Asian markets surged in the morning session Tuesday, as Wall Street marked its best two-day run in 21 years after the U.S. government bailed out Citigroup. U.S and European stocks soared in a broad relief rally after Washington's move eased jittery investors' concerns about the financial sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 4.9 percent and the S&P 500 index jumped 6.5 percent. Increased confidence amongst markets saw risk aversion wane, with the U.S. dollar [JPY-TN  96.68    -0.67  (-0.69%)   ] falling against the yen and a basket of currencies. Oil [US@CL.1  53.88    -0.62  (-1.14%)   ] regained some of the lost ground of recent weeks, while Treasury prices tumbled as stocks rallied.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Average [JP;N225  8246.08    335.29  (+4.24%)   ] jumped 4.5 percent as a surge in U.S. shares on Washington's decision to rescue Citigroup [C  5.95    2.18  (+57.82%)   ] encouraged investors to buy equities, with a weaker yen sparking buying of exporters such as Kyocera.     Honda Motor rose 5 percent, even after it announced a plan on Friday to build fewer cars in Japan, Europe and North America to reflect an increasingly bleak outlook for sales as the global economic crisis discourages big-ticket purchases.

South Korea's KOSPI jumped 4.5 percent as a relief rally in Seoul markets sent banks higher. KB Financial Group, a holding firm of South Korea's largest commercial lender Kookmin Bank, gained 6.5 percent and Shinhan Financial Group was up 8 percent. Techlogy issues also advanced, with Hynix Semiconductor, the world's No.2 maker of memory chips, jumping 8 percent.