Asian stocks finished modestly higher Thursday, led by a rally in Tokyo, even as gains were tempered and Hong Kong stocks fell ahead of a crucial European Union summit.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index gained 143.62 points, or 1.7%, to close Thursday at 8,874.11
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong slid 151.68 points, or 0.8%, to 19,025.27
Early broad Asian share gains followed a solid performance from U.S. stocks on Wednesday, after a trade group’s index of pending home sales rose 5.9% in May to a two-year high and the U.S. government reported orders for long-lasting goods bounced back in May.
But strategists cautioned that the more positive mood might not last in the run-up to the two-day European crisis summit that starts Thursday afternoon in Brussels, given the importance of that meeting to global markets.
Japanese shares strengthened through the session, however, as exporters took heart from the U.S. data and a slight weakening of the yen overnight.
Panasonic Corp. rose 2.1%, while Toshiba Corp. climbed 2.1%, and Toyota Motor Corp. gained 2.6%.
Exporters on the move in Hong Kong included Esprit Holdings Ltd., up 0.2%, while ports operator Cosco Pacific Ltd. advanced 0.9%.
Financials traded higher in Asia after the U.S. gains, as Japan’s largest bank Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. rose 2.8%, and smaller rival Shinsei Bank Ltd. moved ahead by 3.3%.
In Hong Kong, HSBC Holdings PLC rose 0.4%, with a Reuters report saying the lender had sold off close to $430 million U.S. worth of Indian bank shares.
Restructuring hopes boosted shares of News Corp. in Sydney, with the firm up 4.1% after The Wall Street Journal cited unnamed sources as saying the firm’s board had approved a previously disclosed plan to split the company in two.
Week-to-date gains for the firm’s shares now stand at 9.3%. News Corp. is the parent of MarketWatch, the publisher of this report.
Benchmark oil futures strengthened in New York on Wednesday, leading energy firms to gains in Asia on Thursday.
Inpex Corp. added 1.2% and JX Holdings Inc. climbed 1.8% in Japan.
Aurora Oil & Gas Ltd. jumped 1.9% in Australia while Cnooc Ltd. shares were up 3.4% in Hong Kong.
On the downside in Sydney, energy firm Santos Ltd. fell 5.3% after the firm increased the cost of a gas-export joint venture by $2.5 billion to $18.5 billion U.S.
Santos’ partners in the venture — Korea Gas Corp. and Petronas Gas Bhd — each traded flat on Thursday in Seoul.
Japanese retailers were underperforming the broader Tokyo market after May sales data, with Fast Retailing Co. down 0.4% and J. Front Retailing Co. up 0.8%.
Japan’s retail sales rose 3.6% in May compared to the year-ago period, smaller than gains in the previous two months, while sales at large-scale retailers declined 0.9% compared to the same period a year ago, government data out Thursday showed.
In other markets
Shanghai’s CSI 300 index dropped 21.47 points, or 0.9%, to 2,425.73
Korea’s Kospi Index eked up 1.53 points to 1,819.18
Singapore's Straits Times Index boosted 5.22 points, or 0.2%, to 2,846.82
Taiwan’s Taiex Index eased 13.40 points, or 0.2%, to 7,169.61
New Zealand’s NZX index picked up 13.57 points, or 0.4%, to 3,401.34
Australia’s ASX Index rose 1.66 points to 4,044.84
