SYDNEY (MarketWatch)--Asian shares ended mostly higher Tuesday after the U.S. holiday-shopping season got off to a strong start and on optimism European officials are moving toward closer fiscal union to resolve the Continent's debt crisis as a meeting of euro-zone finance ministers was set to begin. "Today's rally should be mainly attributed to good news from either side of the Atlantic," said Li Lei, an analyst at Gold State Securities in China. "But the gain might not be sustainable." "We are still a long way from any real solution (to Europe's debt woes), a fact that investors are only too aware of," said Jason Hughes at IG Markets Singapore. "Having felt the disappointment from politicians failing to deliver on so many occasions recently, we will need to see more concrete and exact details before we believe we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel," he added. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 ended up 1.1%, retracing an earlier dip into negative territory after the government cut its fiscal 2012 growth forecast, underscoring concerns over the global growth outlook. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index and the Shanghai Composite Index each gained 1.2%, while Japan's Nikkei Stock Average climbed 2.3% and South Korea's Kospi rose 2.3%. Bucking the trend, India's Sensex lost 1.0% in afternoon trade as the government failed to break the political deadlock disrupting Parliament's functioning for a sixth day as opposition parties objected to the government's move to open the retail sector to foreign investment. Around the region, major exporters, which rely heavily on end-of-year sales in the world's biggest economy, rose after the solid start to the shopping season. Samsung Electronics advanced 2.8% and LG Electronics gained 4.2% in Seoul, while Acer tacked on 2.1% in Taipei and sourcing company Li & Fung rose 1.8% in Hong Kong. In Tokyo, Hitachi jumped 5.5% and Sony added 2.1% as exporters there got an extra fillip from the yen's weakness against the U.S. dollar and the euro. Financial stocks also advanced after their U.S. counterparts posted gains on hopes for fresh measures to stem the euro-zone debt crisis. Investors expect a new pact will include measures to curb excessive debt by making budget discipline legally binding, which could persuade the European Central Bank to take more action to halt the selloff in debt markets. A meeting of euro-zone finance ministers is expected to begin around 1600 GMT. In Hong Kong, HSBC gained 2.7%, Macquarie Group added 3.0% in Sydney, Shinhan Financial was up 1.7% in Seoul and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial was 1.5% higher in Tokyo. Retail plays dropped sharply in India as the deadlock over foreign investment in the sector continued. Pantaloon Retail fell 12.0%, Koutons Retail shed 7.0% and Shoppers Stop lost 2.9% in afternoon trade. HKT Trust & HKT, the telecommunications trust spun off by PCCW, ended at HK$4.55 on its trading debut in Hong Kong, 0.4% higher than its IPO price of HK$4.53. Rating agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's said Tuesday they maintain a stable outlook for the telecommunications business as the successful listing of HKT Trust has allowed the group to reduce its debt by US$1 billion. -Dow Jones Newswires; +65-6415-4140; markettalk@dowjones.com TALK BACK: We invite readers to send us comments on this or other financial news topics. Please email us at TalkbackAsia@dowjones.com. Readers should include their full names, work or home addresses and telephone numbers for verification purposes. We reserve the right to edit and publish your comments along with your name; we reserve the right not to publish reader comments.

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