Asian stock markets rose today following modest gains on Wall Street and amid increased confidence the Dubai debt crisis was unlikely to derail the global recovery.

Asian stock markets rose today following modest gains on Wall Street and amid increased confidence the Dubai debt crisis was unlikely to derail the global recovery.

Most major benchmarks were up about 1% or more while Tokyo stocks surged on news the central bank was holding an unscheduled board meeting amid government pressure to do more about the surging yen and falling consumer prices.

Oil prices hovered near 77 US dollars a barrel while news of the Bank of Japan meeting sent the yen lower against the dollar.

Global markets tumbled late last week after government investment arm Dubai World sought delays in repaying its 60 billion US dollars of debts but the panic about a new wave of financial instability had eased by yesterday.

"People thought the bad news from Dubai would crash the market, but it didn't happen," said Francis Lun, general manager of Fulbright Securities in Hong Kong.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 stock average closed up 226.65, or 2.4%, to 9,572.20 as investors awaited news from the Bank of Japan meeting and digested plans for new government stimulus spending of at least 2.7 trillion yen (31 billion US dollars).

Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 274.14, or 1.3%, to 22,095.64 and South Korea's Kospi rose 14.12, or 0.9%, to 1,569.72 after the government said exports rose from a year earlier in November for the first time in 13 months.

Elsewhere, Australia's benchmark added 0.4%, Singapore's market was up 1% and India's Sensex advanced 0.9%. China's Shanghai index rose 0.8%.