Asian stocks ended mostly higher Thursday, with Australian shares jumping to 20-month highs on continued buying after U.S. lawmakers passed a bill to avoid steep spending cuts and tax hikes.
Hong Kong stocks ended at a 19-month high after a choppy ride, helped by Chinese economic data showing a further improvement in non-manufacturing activity, although profit-taking pressure and concern about political tussles in the U.S. to raise the nation’s borrowing limit.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index improved 86.62 points, or 0.4%, to 23,398.60
Mainland Chinese and Japanese stock markets remained closed for holidays, along with those in New Zealand.
Thursday’s gains in Asia also came as China’s official non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 56.1 in December, up from 55.6 in November, after two separate gauges of manufacturing signaled a continued improvement in activity at mainland factories.
After gains for many commodities overnight, most of the larger Australian resource names added to their recent gains.
Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. added 2.4%, Oz Minerals Ltd. rose 6%, and mining giant Rio Tinto Ltd. advanced 2.4% in Sydney.
In Seoul, shares of Hyundai Steel Co. rose 1.1% and fellow steel maker Posco gained 2.6%.
In Hong Kong, mainland Chinese insurance and property stocks led further gains.
Shares of Ping An Insurance Group Co. climbed 2.6%, China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd. rose 1.5% and China Resources Land Ltd. surged 4%.
Chinese property developers were among the strongest performers in Hong Kong last year. Both China Resources Land and China Overseas are up more than 80% over the past 12 months, significantly higher than the near-27% gain for the Hang Seng Index.
In Seoul, meanwhile, heavyweight Samsung Electronics Co. dropped 2.1% on profit-taking after posting strong gains in the previous three days.
Automobile stocks extended their losses on concern a firming South Korean won could hurt earnings, particularly at a time their Japanese rivals were expected to benefit from the yen’s steep fall in recent weeks.
Hyundai Motor Co. shed 4.6% and Kia Motors Corp. lost 3%.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index moved up 23.06 points, or 0.7%, to 3,224.80
Korea’s Kospi Index subsided 11.69 points, or 0.6%, to 2,019.41
Taiwan’s Taiex Index grew 57.62 points, or 0.7%, to 7,836.84
The NZX 50 gained 15.85 points, or 0.4%, to 4,082.33
Australia’s ASX Index took on 34.74 points, or 0.7%, to 4,740.68, its best finish since May 2011
