Asia-Pacific shares traded higher on Thursday following the rally on Wall Street and as investors move on from the tensions over U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s controversial visit to Taiwan.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 popped 190.3 points, or 0.7%, to 27,932.20.
Toyota shares dropped 3% after reporting a fall in operating profit for the April-to-June quarter.
The Japanese yen traded at 133.18 per dollar, weaker than levels seen earlier this week
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index gained 406.95 points, or 2.1%, to 20,174.04, with shares of Alibaba popping more than 4% ahead of its earnings results later Thursday.
The Chinese e-commerce giant could see revenue decline for the first time on record, according to analysts’ average forecast on Refinitiv. But that could be the floor for Alibaba as revenue is expected to improve going forward.
Meituan shares also rose around 3.4%, while JD.com gained 5.2%.
Pelosi met with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday amid warnings from Beijing. Pelosi has since left the self-ruled island that China views as a runaway province to continue with her Asia tour.
DBS, Singapore’s largest bank, reported a net profit of 1.82 billion Singapore dollars ($1.32 billion U.S.), the second highest in history, the bank said in a press release. That’s higher than the average forecast of 1.7 billion Singapore dollars, according to data from Refinitiv.
The bank’s shares were about flat in late afternoon trade, while the wider index was advanced 0.4%.
The Australian dollar was at $0.6964.
In other markets
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 regained 34.56 points, or 0.9%, to 4,101.54.
In Taiwan, the Taiex let go of 74.82 points, or 0.5%, to 14,702.20
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index advanced 17.8 points, or 0.6%, to 3,269.86
In Korea, the Kospi moved forward 11.66 points, or 0.5%, to 2,473.11.
In Australia, the ASX 200 dropped 1.01 points to 6,974.93
In New Zealand, the NZX added 30.45 points, or 0.3%, to 11,735.47.
