The Korea Composite Stock Price Index, or the KOSPI, climbed to another 52-week high on Tuesday, as stock markets throughout the Asian region posted gains.

The Korean stock market got a lift from news that North Korea was backing down from its earlier threats of retaliation against military drills that were being carried out by South Korea.

The Taiwan Capitalization Weighted Stock Index, or the TSEC weighted index, opened the Tuesday trading session in Taiwan at 8,771.90, which was higher than the previous trading day's close of 8,736.59.

The TSEC weighted index traded between 8,717.53 and a 52-week high of 8,789.25.

Investors who would like to invest in Taiwanese equities might want to consider the iShares MSCI Taiwan Index Fund (EWT), which seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of publicly traded securities in the Taiwanese markets, as measured by the MSCI Taiwan index.

The Korea Composite Stock Price Index, or the KOSPI, which has been approaching its 52-week high of 1,976.46, moved closer to the 52-week high during the Tuesday trading session in Seoul.

Just after the market opened, the index of Korean stocks dipped before climbing higher. The index began to fall again, nearly reaching the previous day's closing level of 1,953.64 before climbing higher for the remainder of the day. The KOSPI ended Tuesday up 8.88 points, or 0.45%, at 1,962.52.

The day before Thanksgiving was a very positive as the caution of Tuesday faded. The skirmish in the Koreas was calmed a bit and jobless claims nearly came in under 400,000 for the prior week. Even the woes of Europe seem to be calming on Ireland's major austerity cuts even if Portugal and England had demonstrations out in the streets. October new home sales was a disappointing 8% drop but consumer confidence is holding up.

Here are today's closing bell levels:

Dow Jones 11,187.28 +150.91 (1.37%)
S&P 500 1,198.35 +17.62 (1.49%)
Nasdaq 2,543.12 +48.17 (1.93%)

Top Analyst Calls

"Although emerging markets such as China and India garner the most attention, South Korean equities have also enjoyed a banner year," says Yiannis Mostrous.

The contributing editor to Personal Finance newsletter suggests, ""South Korea's domestic demand story has returned to life.

"The retail sector posted strong same-store sales in July, with the various categories registering growth of 8 to 11 percent. And this uptick isn't a credit-induced aberration: Household incomes continue to improve.

"While watching the Olympics, I couldn't thinking about the investment opportunities of the various countries participating in the games," says exchange-traded fund expert Carl Delfeld.

Recognizing that this is not a "scientific" approach nor a primary basis for seriously determining one's asset allocation the editor of Around the World with ETFs speculates, "While it is admittedly a stretch, let's consider what an ETF porfolio of the top ten countries in the Beijing Olympics medal count would look like."

"I hope that while watching the Olympic games many investors were also reminded at how the world is changing and why they need a global portfolio to capture value and growth around the world.

"The U.S. did remarkably well across the board underscoring its role as the world's leading investment destination. China surged to win the most gold and reach the symbolic level of 100 medals.

"Quite an achievement that punctuates China's growing heft. With the Shanghai Composite down 55% this year, it has come down to earth and is interesting from a valuation perspective.

"Next comes Russia with a performance fueled by a strong Olympian tradition and petro dollars but perhaps a bit overshadowed by the Georgian fiasco. I will take a pass on this one even though it is off 36% since just May.