Chinese shares in Shanghai and Hong Kong fronted Asia's advance Thursday, with property firms in the spotlight a day after Beijing announced measures to stimulate demand for homes.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average closed up 54.7 points, or 0.6%, at 8,667.2 while the benchmark Hang Seng Index rose a modest 0.2% to 15,497.81.
On the economic front, the Bank of Japan kicked off its two-day monetary policy meeting today and will announce its interest rate decision at the conclusion of the meeting on Friday.
Japan's nationwide department store sales continued to decline for the ninth straight month in November as gloomier economic outlook in the wake of global financial market turbulence reduced household spending. According to a report from the Japan Department Stores Association, sales at Japan's department stores declined 6.4% year-on-year in November after falling 6.8% in October and 4.7% in September.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group gained 4.4%, Mizuho Financial Group surged up 8.1% and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group soared 8.5%. Mitsubishi Estate closed unchanged, while Mitsui Fudosan rose 4.3%.
Exporters were mixed after the U.S. dollar traded weak against the yen. Honda Motor fell 2.1%, Toyota Motor lost 1.7%, Sony slipped 0.6%, Canon dropped 1.8% and Komatsu shed 3.0%, while Nissan Motor added 0.7%. Among high-tech stocks, Kyocera advanced 1.3%, Advantest surged up 7.0%, and TDK Corp. climbed 0.7%.
Oil and gas miner Inpex Holdings gave away 1.7%, but Nippon Mining Holding added 1.9%. Among other commodity-related stocks, Mitsubishi Corp. slipped 0.3%, while Mitsui & Co. edged up 0.5%.
CHINA
The Chinese stock market ended sharply higher, extending its gains for the fourth consecutive trading session. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, which covers both A shares and B shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, closed up 38.9 points or 1.97% at 2,015.7. The Shenzhen Component Index on the smaller Shenzhen Stock Exchange climbed 125.6 points or 1.7% to 7,412.5.
Chinese stocks reversed early losses, led by banks, which surged on talk that the government might soon reveal aid for the banking sector following the assistance announced for the real estate industry late Wednesday.
China Merchants Bank jumped 5.8%, Bank of China advanced 1.9%, and the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China gained 2.1%. In the property sector, China Vanke climbed 3.0%, Gemdale rose 1.2%, COFCO Property added 1.3%, and Poly Real Estate Group edged up 0.1%.
Elsewhere in the financial sector, China Life Insurance moved up 4.6% and Ping An Insurance surged up 7.2%. Brokerage CITIC Securities added 0.4%, but Haitong Securities fell 3.0% and Sinolink Securities lost 0.5%.
Index heavyweight PetroChina and oil refiner Sinopec advanced 1.0% each. China Eastern Airlines climbed 1.0%, but China Southern Airlines dropped 0.3%.
Elsewhere:
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3% to 3,581.20.
New Zealand's NZX 50 index added 0.4% to 2,707.59.
South Korea's Kospi gained 0.5% to 1,175.91
Taiwan's Taiex ended up 1.0% at 4,694.
Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index dropped 0.9% to 1,351.
Malaysia's KLCI closed up 18.0 points at 880.
Singapore's STI rose 1.0% to 1,798.
with files from other wire services
