BEIJING (AP) — Asian and European stock markets were higher yesterday after a jump in US housing sales suggested the world’s biggest economy is picking up speed.

Shanghai, Seoul and Sydney all rose after major US indexes gained Tuesday on news that November home resales jumped 7.4 percent, above a forecast 2.5 percent. As trading got started in Europe, benchmarks in Germany, France and Britain were up about 0.5 percent. Stock futures augured modest gains yesterday on Wall Street.

The housing figures, which came after upbeat earnings and forecasts from technology companies and more corporate dealmaking, countered gloom about third quarter economic growth being revised lower.

The advance in stocks is "being driven by sentiment out of the US and the fact that US markets continue to hold up in the face of rather mixed data," said Kirby Daley, senior strategist at Newedge Group in Hong Kong.

China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 23.26 points, or 0.8 percent, to 3,073.78, while Sydney’s S&P/ASX added 0.8 percent to 4,739.30 amid strength in coal stocks.

Tokyo was closed for a holiday after the benchmark Nikkei 225 added 1.9 percent on Tuesday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng reversed losses to climb 236.70, or 1.1 percent, to 21,328.74.

Investors were closely watching US markets in the absence of major Asian developments.

"The market realizes that as long as China remains strong, Asia is going to benefit, and as long as the US doesn’t hit a major bump in the road, Asia will remain stable," Daley said. However, he said that after recent strong gains, "I don’t think there will be a significant push higher."

China’s government is forecasting full-year 2009 growth of 8.3 percent following a rebound driven by Beijing’s 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus. Private sector economists expect growth of up 9.4 percent.