Strong corporate earnings helped lift Hong Kong stocks on Tuesday to their highest closing level this year, despite an overnight retreat in U.S. markets amid geopolitical tensions in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo returned after a long weekend to balloon 127.57 points, or 0.8%, to 15,343.28.
The yen traded slightly lower versus the U.S. dollar at ¥101.53 from ¥101.40 in the previous day.
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong zoomed 394.97 points, or 1.7%, higher to 23,782.11, its biggest daily gain in more than two months.
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, rallied 3.6%, after the oil and gas giant reported an 8% year-on-year increase in its oil-gas valent-weight output for the first half of this year.
Shares of the other two state giants also popped higher, as PetroChina Co., the country’s largest oil producer, jumped 3.2%, and offshore oil and gas producer Cnooc rose 1.9%.
Index heavyweight China Mobile gained 2.1%, after data showed 4G subscribers with the world’s largest mobile carrier broke through the 10-million mark. Smaller rivals China Telecom Corp. and China Unicom (Hong Kong) added 2.2% and 1.1%, respectively.
Mainland property developers notched sector-wide gains after reports said several Chinese major cities have loosened property controls. Top gainers included Shimao Property Holdings, spiking 4.8%, China Overseas Land & Investment, climbing 4.4%, and China Resources Land which rose 3.2%.
In other markets;
The Shanghai CSI 300 index grew 26.40 points, or 1.2%, to 2,192.70
In Korea, the Kospi index moved up 10.43 points, or 0.5%, to 2,028.93
Singapore’s Straits Times Index took on 2.64 points, or 0.1%, to 3,316.91
In Taiwan, the Taiex index gained 58.39 points, or 0.6%, to 9,499.36
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 inched up 6.97 points, or 0.1%, to 5,133.87
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 eked up 3.35 points, or 0.1%, to 5,543.29
