Asia stocks follow US surge

Asian markets have opened sharply higher following Wall Street's best day this year on the back of Citigroup announcing it was making a profit. Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock average was about four per cent higher after the midday break on Wednesday while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was trading up about three per cent.  Markets in most parts of the Asia-Pacific region were also up, tracking Wall Street's biggest one-day rally this year. Spurred by Citigroup saying it operated at a profit during the first two months of the year, investors traded in high volume to send the Dow Jones industrials up nearly 380 points or 5.8 per cent, to 6,926.49 on Tuesday – its biggest point and percentage gain since late November. The broader S&P 500 index rose 43.07, or 6.4 per cent, to 719.60, while the Nasdaq composite rose 89.64, or 7.1 per cent, to 1,358.28. In a letter to employees on Monday, Vikram Pandit, Citi's chief executive, said the performance this year has been the bank's best since the third quarter of 2007, the last time it booked a profit for a full quarter. Based on historical revenue and expense rates, Citi's projected earnings before taxes and one-time charges would be about $8.3bn for the full quarter. Pandit declined to say how large credit losses and other one-time items have been that would at least partially offset profit.