Most Asian stocks rose Wednesday as a higher finish overnight for U.S. equities and gold prices encouraged buyers, and with Japanese shares rebounding after a three-day losing streak as the yen weakened.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index recovered 161.45 points, or 1.2%, to 13,382.89, as the U.S. dollar climbed back above ¥98, and after Credit Suisse raised its rating on Japanese equities Tuesday to overweight.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index shed 102.36 points, or 0.5%, to 21,569.67
The advance followed a surprisingly strong increase in U.S. housing starts and better-than-expected earnings from companies including as Coca-Cola Co. and BlackRock Inc. that spurred major stock indexes on Wall Street to gains of at least 1.1% overnight.
Gains in Tokyo also took support from the International Monetary Fund’s upgrade of the country’s economic growth outlook for 2013 to 1.6%, applauding Japan’s aggressive new monetary easing, even as it downgraded U.S. forecasts.
Shares of Sony Corp. climbed 2.3%, Mizuho Financial Group Inc. rose 2.4% shipping firm Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. gained 4.3% and Mazda Motor Corp. spiked 5.9% in a bounce spread across sectors.
Shares of Nomura Holdings Inc. dropped 2.3% after Italian police froze 1.8 billion euros ($2.35 billion U.S.) in funds from a unit of the investment bank as part of an investigation into Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena. The case stems from a structured-products transaction that the Nomura unit worked on with Monte dei Paschi.
Telecommunications firm Softbank Corp. edged up 1.2%, following heavy losses Tuesday after Dish Network Corp. trumped its takeover bid for U.S. firm Spring Nextel Corp.
Worries about China’s economic momentum weighed on trading in Hong Kong and Shanghai after the mainland’s first-quarter gross domestic product growth disappointed earlier in the week.
Shares of luxury-goods maker Prada S.p.A. lost 2.3%, while footwear major Belle International Holdings Ltd. gave up 1.1%.
Among resource stocks, a few gold-linked names saw a mild recovery after recent losses, with gold miner Newcrest Mining Ltd. climbing 0.6% as gold futures settled higher overnight. In Hong Kong, Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group Ltd. rose 1.5%.
BHP Billiton Ltd. fell 0.3% in Australia after reporting that its third-quarter iron-ore output increased less than expected.
In other markets;
The Shanghai CSI 300 fell back 1.12 points to 2,458.47
In Korea, the Kospi Index added 1.63 points, or 0.1%, to 1,923.84
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index gained 8.02 points, or 0.1%, to 7,809.07
The Singapore Straits Times Index let go of 0.12 points to 3,291.46
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 grew 50.43 points, or 1.1%, to 4,478.27
Australia’s ASX 200 took on 53.71 points, or 1.1%, to 5,004.56
