Asian markets bounced back for the most part Thursday, taking their cue from overnight gains on Wall Street, with Japanese shares helping lead the charge as exporters such as Sony Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. played off a weakened yen.
The benchmark Nikkei index rebounded 3%, following Wednesday's1.3% fall, and closed above 14,000 for the first time in a week. The key index added 415.03 points or 3.03% to finish the session at 14,124.47
In Japan, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said that overall retail sales edged up 0.1% on year in April, marking the ninth straight month of increase. However, the increase was well below analysts' expectations of a 0.6% annual increase. It was also lower than the revised 1.0% on year expansion in the previous month. Seasonally adjusted, sales eased by 0.1% on year, below expectations for a flat reading and down from the revised 0.4% on year increase in March.
Shares of Sony jumped 3.7%, while Nissan added 4.2%.
Hong Kong shares closed higher as heavyweight China Mobile rebounded after sharp falls in the previous five sessions. The Hang Seng index closed up 134.48 points or 0.55 pct at 24,383.99, off a high of 24,542.10 and low of 24,222.05.
China's Shanghai Composite dropped 1.7% to 3,401.44. It had scored sharp gains during the previous session, rising 2.5%.
Elsewhere:
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index finished 1.1% higher at 5,709.40.
New Zealand's NZX 50 index climbed 0.5% to 3,563.11.
Singapore's Straits Times Index gained 0.7% to 3,155.79 in late afternoon trading.
Taiwan's Weighted index finished 0.2% higher at 8,684.92.
with files from other wire services
