Asian equity markets rose Thursday after Washington lawmakers voted to reopen the U.S. government and raise the debt ceiling
The Nikkei 225 index in Japan gained 119.37 points, or 0.8% to 14,586.51
The export-heavy market was aided by the yen’s pullback against the U.S. dollar, which took strength from Washington’s agreement.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index erased 133.45 points, or 0.6%, to 23,094.88
U.S. President Barack Obama signed the legislation passed by Congress late Wednesday to restore federal operations, fund the government through Jan. 15, and to raise the debt limit until Feb. 7. The House passed the Senate-crafted bill by a 285-to-144 margin. Federal employees were expected to return to their positions Thursday.
Investors worldwide had been concerned that the U.S. could default on its debt obligations, resulting in a disruption of business activity and long-running efforts to encourage global economic growth.
Over in Tokyo, gains for the U.S. dollar helped support the advance. The U.S. unit bought as much as ¥99.05 compared with ¥98.75 late Wednesday. After the House vote, however, the greenback eased back to around ¥98.42.
Among the advancers, shares of Fujitsu Ltd. topped advancers as they tacked on 5.5%, and Mazda Motor Corp. rose 2.3%.
Also higher were shares of Kansai Electric Power Co., rising 2.2% after the utility swung to a first-half pretax profit of 31 billion yen ($314 million U.S).
Hong Kong advancers included ZTE Corp., which traded 4.8% higher after announcing it had garnered a "more-than-60% share of the contracts in China Mobile’s group tender for 100G Optical Transport Networking products for 2013, exceeding the combined total of all other vendors."
Stock in China Mobile Ltd. rose 0.2%.
In Sydney, shares of Newcrest Mining Ltd. underperformed the broader market, falling 0.6% after the gold producer said it faces about 120 million Australian dollars ($115 million U.S.) in extra tax charges this fiscal year.
CHINA
Finance shares, however, turned lower, with China’s central bank ready to take out 44.5 billion yuan ($7.3 billion U.S.) from the banking system this week though regular open-market operations, according to Dow Jones Newswires. Shares of Bank of China Ltd. lost 0.8%, while Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. also fell 0.8%.
Shanghai’s CSI 300 dropped 8.04 points, or 0.3%, to 2,413.33
In other markets;
Korea’s Kospi Index regained six points, or 0.3%, to 2,040.61
Taiwan’s Taiex Index picked up 42.50 points, or 0.5%, to 8,374.68
The Singapore Straits Times Index added 12.59 points, or 0.4%, to 3,186.62
In New Zealand, the Exchange 50 Gross Index took on 17.23 points, or 0.4%, to 4,776
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 improved 20.19 points, or 0.4%, to 5,238.10
