Australian stocks gained smartly Wednesday on expectations of higher commodity prices with other Asia Pacific markets posting smaller gains or slim declines as attention remained on prospects to sustain record gains in the U.S.
Markets in Japan were off for the Labour Thanksgiving public holiday.
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong tailed off 1.38 points to 22,676.69
The yen traded at 111.04 against the U.S. dollar, falling from levels below 110 in the previous week.
Australian markets zoomed higher, with most sectors gaining. The heavily-weighted financial sector rose 1.1% while the energy tacked on 1.3% and materials sectors strengthened nearly 2%.
Mining names mostly rose, with major miners advancing more than 2% each. Shares of Rio Tinto closed up 2.5%, Fortescue was higher by 2.9% and BHP Billiton added 2.7%
The Australian dollar jumped to a session high of $0.7444, climbing from levels near $0.7320 earlier in the week. As of late afternoon, the Aussie traded at $0.7436.
In company news, prosecutors reportedly raided the offices of Samsung Group over its alleged link with Choi Soon-sil, who is a longtime confidant of President Park Geun-hye and who has been indicted for criminal acts.
Prosecutors also raided the country's largest pension fund, the National Pension Service, with Yonhap reporting investigators were looking into NPS's decision to approve the $8-billion U.S. merger between Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries in 2015.
Samsung Electronics shares closed up 0.6% at 1,649,000 won, while Samsung SDI was higher by 0.4%. Samsung Electro-Mechanics was down 1.4% and Samsung C&T was off 2.9%. Samsung Engineering fell 1.3%.
In other markets
The CSI 300 in Shanghai added 6.37 points, or 0.2%, to 3,474.73
In Korea, the Kospi inched ahead 4.48 points, or 0.2%, at 1,987.95
The Straits Times Index in Singapore gained 17.49 points, or 0.6%, to 2,839.69
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index jumped 44.84 points, or 0.5%, to 9,178.23
The NZX 50 closed up 35 points, or 0.5%, at 6,851.45
Australia's benchmark ASX 200 hiked 71.03 points, or 1.3%, at 5,484.36
