Stocks in Shanghai and Hong Kong pulled back Friday as lackluster data on Chinese manufacturing prompted a retreat after a solid rally in the previous session, while Japanese shares got a lift as real-estate firms advanced on an improved outlook.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Index gained 47.02 points, or 0.4%, to 11,606.38, after Thursday’s 300-point-plus gain.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index fell 140.05 points, or 0.6%, to 22,880.22
Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. fell 1.9% in Hong Kong after cutting its fiscal-year property sales target and reporting a 1.9% decline in first-half underlying net profit.
Resource stocks in Australia also weakened after the China data, with Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. sliding 4% and Rio Tinto Ltd. dropping 1.5%.
Newcrest Mining Ltd. slid 1.8% and Perseus Mining Ltd. tumbled 5.6% after gold futures fell for a second straight session in New York on Thursday.
Meanwhile, in Japan, real-estate stocks jumping to offset a drop in some exporters as the yen strengthened.
The performance helped Japanese stocks end the week with a 1.9% advance — behind the Shanghai Composite’s 2% rise, but ahead of the S&P/ASX 200’s 1.4% climb and the Hang Seng Index’s 0.4% increase.
Shares of Japan Real Estate Investment Corp. rose 3.9%, Mitsui Fudosan Co. gained 3.2% and Mitsubishi Estate Co. jumped 6.1%.
Those gains helped the broad market gain even as Fast Retailing Co. eased 0.2%, Komatsu Ltd. dropped 0.6% and Isuzu Motors Ltd. shed 1.1%.
Sony Corp. gained 3.9% after the Nikkei business daily reported the company had sold a building in Tokyo for 111.1 billion yen ($1.2 billion U.S).
Sharp Corp. rose 2.4% after a Kyodo News report that the electronics firm would soon accept executives from two major banks to secure their financial support.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. added 2.9% after a Nikkei News report that the firm was ordering more than ¥10 billion worth of supplies and equipment to use for decommissioning reactors at its Fukishima plant destroyed in the 2011 nuclear disaster.
Kobe Steel Ltd., which was reportedly supplying the material, added 0.8%.
CHINA
The drop came after two separate sets of manufacturing data showed activity at Chinese factories leveled off in February as compared to the previous month.
The Shanghai CSI 300 Composite 300 index demurred 4.49 points, or 0.2%, to 2,668.84
Several economists, however, said the data may have been distorted due to the timing of this year’s Lunar New Year holidays, and remained optimistic about growth.
The resource and financial sectors were notably weaker, with Jiangxi Copper Co. dropping 2.5%, Aluminum Corp. of China Ltd. skidding 4.8% and Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. easing 0.8% in Hong Kong; in Shanghai, the stocks lost 1.4%, 0.8% and 1.7%, respectively.
In other markets
Markets in Korea were closed for a holiday
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index returned from holiday to add 66.65 points, or 0.8%, to 7,964.63
The Singapore Straits Times Index erased 0.45 points to 3,269.50
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 index docked 2.02 points to 4,317.99
In Australia, the S&P/ASX subtracted 17.95 points, or 0.4%, to 5,086.13
