Asian stocks soar on possible U.S. rescue package

HONG KONG -- Asian stock markets soared Friday as a news of a U.S. government plan to rescue banks from risky mortgage debt brought hope of a letup in the world's worst financial crisis in decades.

Japan's Nikkei 225 average advanced 3.2% to 11,859.75, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index shot up nearly 7% to 18,836.90.

Stock measures in China, Taiwan, South Korea and Australia were also sharply higher.

After a week of steep losses, regional markets were lifted partly by overnight gains on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average surged 410.03, or 3.86%, to 11,019.69 — the benchmarks biggest percentage point gain since October 2002.

Investors also were reacting to news that the U.S. government was seeking the power to rescue banks by buying distressed assets at the heart of the financial system's crisis that has brought down Wall Street giants Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns.

Details of the plan were still being worked out, but U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson emerged from a nighttime meeting on Capitol Hill to say he hoped to have a solution "aimed right at the heart of this problem."

The news powered Asian financials higher, with China's biggest lender, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd, or ICBC, rising 14%. Banks in Japan and Australia also gained.

In currencies, the dollar climbed against the yen to 106.74.