Asian stock markets were mostly higher Tuesday, buoyed by a successful sale of French government bonds and shrugging off data showing that China's growth is moderating.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index added 0.6 percent to 8,430.73. Hong Kong's Hang Seng climbed 1.5 percent at 19,297.77 and South Korea's Kospi jumped 1.5 percent to 1,886.12.
But shares in mainland China slipped into negative territory after the release of government figures showing that growth in the world's second-largest economy slowed in the final quarter of 2011 to 8.9 percent, its lowest rate in 2 1/2 years.
For the full year, the Chinese economy grew 9.2 percent, down from 2010's blistering 10.3 percent.
Still, most key benchmark stock indexes posted gains, buoyed by a strong sale of French bonds on Monday and taking a downgrade of the Europe's emergency bailout fund in stride.
France easily sold about euro 8.6 billion ($10.9 billion) of debt with very short maturities, as well as 25-week and 51-week bonds.
On the secondary markets, where the issued bonds are later traded openly, the interest rate on France's benchmark 10-year bond fell, indicating investors feel France remains a relatively good bet — and perhaps are paying less heed to ratings agencies.
Still, investor sentiment faced multiple headwinds, including Standard & Poor's downgrading of the creditworthiness of the eurozone's rescue fund by one notch to AA+. That could hurt the fund's ability to raise cheap bailout money to resolve a debt crisis that has dragged on for more than two years.
U.S. markets were closed Monday for a public holiday.
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