Most Asian stock markets rose Thursday as a successful bond sale in Portugal eased worries over Europe's debt crisis, as AP reported. Oil prices hovered below $92 a barrel as signs of improving U.S. demand pushed crude to near a two-year high. In currencies, the dollar weakened against the yen but was up against euro. Stock markets have been rattled by fears that heavily indebted Portugal will become the third European country to require a bailout after Greece and Ireland. But the Portuguese government borrowed $1.6 billion in an international debt auction on Wednesday at a lower long-term interest rate than many expected _ easing fears of a default for now. «That alleviated the immediate need of going to the European Central Bank begging for help,» said Francis Lun, general manager of Fulbright Securities Ltd. in Hong Kong. «It's a good thing because the immediate danger of Portugal defaulting is over. People are now looking at the brighter side.» Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average added 0.5 percent to 10,568.60. Banking issues jumped, extending gains by U.S. financial stocks on hopes that banks would start raising their dividends. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. rose 1 percent, and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. was up 1.2 percent. South Korea's Kospi was down 0.5 percent at 2,084.82 after the central bank unexpectedly hiked its key interest rate for the second time in three months as it seeks to tame rising inflation. The Bank of Korea raised its benchmark seven-day repurchase rate to 2.75 percent from 2.5 percent. The announcement came a day after a record high on the Seoul exchange. Elsewhere, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.5 percent to 24,247.22 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.4 percent to 4,790.70. Benchmarks in Taiwan, New Zealand and Singapore also rose while India's Sensex and the Shanghai Composite Index fell.
