Asian stocks recouped some losses after three straight losing sessions Friday, with commodity producers such as BHP Billiton tracking gains in oil and metals prices while Mazda Motor Corp. led Japanese exporters higher after the yen eased against the dollar.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 223.8 points or 2.7% to close at 8,462.4 while the benchmark Hang Seng index closed up 321.31 points or 2.43% at 13,542.66.
On the economic front, investors had little report to digest on Friday.
Exporters staged a rally on the back of a stronger dollar. Advantest surged 9.1%, TDK jumped 7.3%, Sony gained 3.8%, Fanuc advanced 5.4 %, Canon rose 2.3%, Honda Motor climbed 3.2%, and Toyota Motor added 2.0%. The Nikkei business daily reported that Toyota, facing a deep slump in the U.S. auto market, is considering postponing the start of production at a plant it is building in Mississippi until 2011 or later.
In the oil sector, Inpex Holdings jumped 9.2% and Nippon Oil advanced 2.2%. Trading house Mitsubishi Corp climbed 1.1%, but Mitsui & Co lost 0.6%.
Agricultural machinery maker Kubota jumped 6.4% after Nomura Securities raised its rating to "Buy" from "Neutral" on hopes of growing demand for farm equipment, especially in Thailand.
Property sector sank on poor condominium sales data. Mitsui Fudosan dropped 4.5% and Mitsubishi Estate fell 2.9%. In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group edged up 0.3%, but Mizuho Financial Group fell 4.6% and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group shed 1.6%. On Thursday, Mizuho Financial Group reported a quarterly net loss and said it would raise up to $3.1 billion to bolster its capital.
CHINA
The Chinese stock market closed sharply higher, extending its gains for the third consecutive trading session, after the detailed economy stimulus package was approved on Wednesday. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed up 58.83 points or 3.05% at 1986.44. Brokerages, real estate and airline stocks led the gainers.
On the economic front, China's urban fixed-asset investments rose 27.2% in the first 10 months of 2008, the National Bureau of Statistics said Friday. Fixed-asset investment in cities, a key measure of spending on infrastructure projects, totaled 11.3 trillion yuan, indicating a slight slowdown, as urban fixed asset investments were up 27.6% in the first nine months of the year.
Among brokerages, CITIC Securities gained 4.9%, Changjiang Securities jumped 7.6%, Guoyuan Securities surged 8.6%, and Haitong Securities soared 10.0%. In the property sector, China Vanke climbed 4.1%, rose 7.6%, and COFCO Property advanced 7.0%. Air China added 5.5%, China Eastern Airlines moved up 5.1%, and China Southern Airlines closed up 7.1%.
China Life Insurance advanced 3.4% and Ping An Insurance added 2.4%. Market heavyweight PetroChina rose 2.2% and oil refiner Sinopec climbed 2.0%.
Elsewhere:
Taiwan's Taiex closed up 0.3% at 4,452.
Singapore's STI closed up 0.2% at 1,759.
Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index closed up 0.4% at 1,264.
Malaysia's KLCI closed flat at 881.
India's Sensex fell 1.6% to 9,385.
Australia S&P/ASX 200 closed 1.4% higher at 3,748.10.
South Korea's Kospi gave back earlier gains to end little changed at 1,088.
with files from other wire services
