Asian markets ended on a mixed note Friday, with financials such as Mizuho Financial Group helping push Tokyo higher, while Shanghai stocks lost steam and ended lower a day after putting in their best performance in years.
The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.7 per cent to 3,557.8, pulling back after posting a 9.3 per cent surge in the previous session - its largest percentage rise in more than 6 years. Hong Kong's Hang Seng followed Shanghai's lead, dropping 0.6 per cent to 25,516.8.
But stocks jumped on Asia's largest bourse in Tokyo, led by gains in auto and financial shares as concerns over the global credit crunch eased. The Nikkei 225 index rose 2.4 per cent to 13,863.5.
On the economic front, Japan's core consumer prices accelerated at their fastest pace in a decade in March on higher food and transportation costs, data released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications showed.
Japan's core consumer price index, which excludes volatile fresh-food prices, rose 1.2% from the same month a year ago, matching expectations
Insurer T&D Holdings surged 7.3 per cent. Japanese banking giant Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group rose 6.1 per cent.
Investors also bought auto stocks as Japan's top automaker, Toyota Motor Corp., rose 3.1 per cent.
Shares in Honda Motor Co. grew 3.7 per cent despite an earning reports showing its net profit in the January-March quarter plunging 86 per cent due to the yen's strength and a tax payment provision. Honda said it still posted record profit for the just past fiscal year.
Elsewhere:
South Korea's Kospi rose 1.4% to 1,824.68.
India's Sensitive Index, jumping 2.3% to 17,110.03 by late afternoon.
Taiwan's Weighted index gave up 0.5% to 8,947.83.
Stock markets in Australia and New Zealand were closed for a holiday.
with files from other wire services
