Asian markets ended mostly higher Wednesday, with Shanghai-listed stocks staging a sharp rebound as investors looked beyond the destruction caused by a deadly earthquake that struck the mainland on Monday.
China's Shanghai Composite returned the best figures for the day, finishing 2.7% higher at 3,657.43, more than recovering Tuesday's 1.8% loss.
The rally was led by banks and other financials. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China rose 3.6 per cent, China Merchants Bank gained 4.9 per cent and Minsheng Banking Corp. advanced 4.4 per cent.
In Tokyo, stocks rose as investors welcomed the U.S. dollar's stability and upbeat earnings reports from telecommunications giant NTT and other companies.
The Nikkei 225 index climbed 164.82 points, or 1.18 per cent, to 14,118.55 points, its highest finish since Jan. 10.
Hong Kong stocks dipped as traders sold refiners Sinopec and PetroChina on concerns about surging fuel prices.
The blue-chip Hang Seng Index inched down 19 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 25,533.49. But the index is still up more than 21 per cent since it fell to 21,084 on March 17, its lowest closing level since last October's peak.
Sinopec fell 2.2 per cent and PetroChina Ltd. dropped 0.6 per cent. Offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC, on the other hand, rose 3 per cent.
Chinese insurers fell on potentially huge claims related to the earthquake in the southwestern province of Sichuan. China Life, which has the biggest share of Sichuan's life insurance market by premiums of 38.6 per cent, fell 0.5 per cent while Ping An dropped 0.6 per cent.
Elsewhere:
South Korea's Kospi index ended flat at 1,843.75.
Philippines' main index rose 0.5 per cent to 2,862.53.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index rose 1% to 5,872.70.
with files from other wire services
