Asian stocks climbed Tuesday on buying inspired by stronger-than-expected U.S. data, with Japanese shares soaring as the as the yen fell against the dollar.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index gained 123.38 points, or 1.4%, to close at 8,701.31
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index improved 58.82 points, or 0.3%, to 21,207.07
An overnight advance on Wall Street in the wake of better-than-expected retail sales data and results from Citigroup Inc.set the tone for the day’s gains.
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. each rose 1.6% in Tokyo; heavyweight HSBC Holdings PLC gained 1.2% and Standard Chartered PLC advanced 2.1% in Hong Kong; National Australia Bank Ltd. rose 1.1% in Sydney and Woori Finance Holdings Co. rose 0.9% in Seoul.
Investors also bought into Japanese exporters on a strengthened U.S. dollar
Toshiba Corp. gained 3.8%, Sony Corp. climbed 2.4%, and Nintendo Co. rose 2.2%.
Softbank Corp. soared 9.6% on strong volume, ending a seven-session declining streak that included losses of more than 20% in just the last two trading days, rallied 9.3%.
The gains came after the firm formally announced its planned purchase of a 70% of U.S. mobile firm Sprint Nextel Corp. for about $20 billion in a deal that would make Softbank one of the world’s largest telecom firms.
In Hong Kong, the property sector saw some hefty gains after their recent underperformance. China Resources Land Ltd. rallied 5.1% and China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd. rose 2.3%.
But China Gas Holdings Ltd. tumbled 4.2% after China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, and ENN Energy Holdings Ltd. ended their bid for the firm, according to reports.
Sinopec lost 0.9%, while ENN shares added 2.8%.
Retail and food conglomerate Wesfarmers Ltd. moved up 1.2% in Sydney after an anonymously sourced report that the firm was reviewing the ownership structure of 700 million Australian dollars ($717 million U.S.) worth of supermarket properties.
CHINA
Chinese shares fared less enthusiastically amid caution ahead of the country’s gross domestic product data, due on Thursday.
The Shanghai CSI 300 index eked ahead 3.31 points, or 0.1%, to 2,298.16
In other markets
The Singapore Straits Times Index edged up 3.76 points, or 0.1%, to 3,046.81
Korea’s Kospi index gained 15.95 points, or 0.8%, to 1,941.54
Taiwan’s Taiex Index picked up 24.33 points, or 0.6%, to 3,940.70
Australia’s ASX Index rose 8.07 points, or 0.2%, to 4,491.50
