DEBORAH MARCHINI, CNN ANCHOR: A strong performance by high-tech and banking stocks led a rally in Asia. In Tokyo, news that Softbank won government approval to buy bankrupt Nippon Credit helped the stock advance more than 2000 yen.</s>DAVID HAFFENREFFER, CNN ANCHOR: Our Lorraine Hahn has the latest on this story and wraps up the day in the Asian markets now from our studios in Hong Kong. Good morning, Lorraine.</s>LORRAINE HAHN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to both of you. Asia celebrated signs that U.S. interest rates may not need to rise. The Nasdaq rally Friday also worked up a healthy appetite for high-tech stocks. In Japan, bellwether Sony jumped eight percent. Internet investor Softbank surged 11 percent, while Internet portal Yahoo! Japan soared almost 13 percent. Now Softbank's stock lifted by talk over the weekend that it had finally bridged its differences with the government over terms of buying bankrupt Nippon Credit Bank. Now we called Softbank in Japan to try to confirm this report, but the company refused to say anything. Japan's top regulator is only saying that no formal decision has been made as yet. Also in the news in Japan, the world's third biggest video game maker, Sega Enterprises, is teaming up with Motorola to develop new cellular phones that can access the Internet. The new phone is expected to be launched next spring and is a bid by Sega to diversify beyond video games. This news sent Sega stock jumping almost 19 percent. Overall, the Nikkei index picked up 2 1/3 percent. Here in Hong Kong, the interest rate sensitive Hang Seng index rose 3 3/4 percent. Heavyweight China Telecom, soon to change its name to China Mobile, added 6.5 percent. The market is closed Tuesday for the Dragon Boat holiday. Finally, in South Korea, that market soared almost 4.5 percent, again led higher by a surge in buying of financials and construction stocks. And that's a quick check from me here in Hong Kong. Back to both of you in New York.</s>MARCHINI: All right, thank you, Lorraine.
High-Tech, Banking Stocks Lead Rally in Asian Markets