Most Asian stocks fell Thursday, with Chinese property developers and many of the region’s commodity producers declining amid worries Beijing may not relax a policy aimed at cooling the nation’s housing market.
Japanese shares were an exception, and ended higher as the yen’s weakening trend propped shares of exporters further up.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Index gained 72.70 points, or 0.7%, to 10,123.30
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index tacked on 45.64 points, or 0.2%, to 21,353.50
In Hong Kong, Hang Seng Index constituents China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd. dropped 2.7%
and China Resources Land Ltd. declined 1.6%.
Property sector losses in Hong Kong were offset by strength for index heavyweight China Mobile Ltd., which ended up 0.5% after it reported a 5.2% increase in 2011 profit.
Shares of HSBC Holdings PLC also lent support to the broad market, rising 1.4% and extending recent gains.
Shares of Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. rose 0.8% although the airline on Wednesday reported a 61% fall in 2011 net profit and said 2012 was expected to be another challenging year. The gains came after Citigroup upgraded the stock to buy, saying there was a greater likelihood that the airline will revise its earnings upward going forward.
Several resource sector shares fell, amid uncertainty over Chinese demand growth and after a firm U.S. dollar pressured commodity prices in New York Wednesday.
BHP Billiton Ltd. dropped 1.2% and Rio Tinto Ltd. shed 0.6% in Sydney, Cnooc Ltd. gave up 1.2% in Hong Kong, and Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. lost 0.7% in Hong Kong and 2.8% in Shanghai.
Shares in Leighton Holdings Ltd. rose 1.6% in Sydney after the construction firm and Macmahon Holdings Ltd. secured a 340-million-Australian-dollar ($354.7 million U.S.) contract to develop the Ichthys natural-gas project in Darwin. Macmahon stock rose 1.2%.
Over in Japan, export-focused firms rallied on the dollar’s continued strength against the yen.
Camera makers Ricoh Co. and Canon Inc. climbed 7.9% and 3.7%, respectively, while Mazda Motor Corp. jumped 6.1%.
Shares in Sharp Corp. sank 5.3% a day after the electronics firm named a new president and amid reports of delays with the firm’s delivery of liquid-crystal-delay panels for Apple Inc.’s iPad devices
CHINA
The Shanghai CSI 300 subtracted 19.56 points, or 0.8%, to 2,585.55, after Premier Wen Jiabao reiterated his government's commitment to cool the housing market.
Mainland property stocks came under further selling pressure. Shares of Beijing Vantone Real Estate Co. lost 3.7% and Poly Real Estate Group Co. gave up 2.6% in Shanghai, while China Vanke Co. shed 1% in Shenzhen.
In other markets;
Korea’s Kospi Index inched up 1.28 points to 2,043.76
The Taiex index in Taiwan shed 3.64 points to 8,121.62
Singapore’s Straits Times Index doffed 0.56 points to 3,025.84
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index prospered 34.74 points, or 1%, to 3,533.73
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index sliced off 9.41 points, or 0.2%, to 4,277.77
