Asian markets advanced Thursday, bolstered by overnight rises in oil prices, while shares of South Korea's Samsung Electronics jumped after a U.S. activist investor called for a corporate overhaul.
The Nikkei 225 Index gained 79.86 points, or 0.5%, to 16,899.10
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index added 164.19 points, or 0.7%, to 23,952.50
The yen continued to weaken against the dollar. The U.S. dollar-yen currency pair was trading at 103.61 as of late afternoon, compared with levels around 101 yen last week.
In Japan, shares of Fujitsu surged 5.7% after media reports that the company might dispose of its PC business, potentially to Lenovo.
Korean markets gained ground, even after Typhoon Chaba hit the southern parts of the country on Wednesday.
In South Korea, Typhoon Chaba killed at least three people and flooded the country's biggest port in the city of Busan, industrial sites and factories, and dozens of flights were cancelled.
Shares of Hyundai Motor fell 0.7%, after Reuters reported that two of its factories suspended operations because of "inflow of water" from the typhoon.
But the main index got support from heavily-weighted Samsung, which jumped 4.5% after Reuters reported U.S. hedge fund Elliot Management published a letter calling on the South Korean firm's board of directors to make several corporate governance changes, including splitting the company and increasing its dividend.
Samsung Electronics said in a statement that it would carefully consider the proposals made by Elliot Management, and that it "believes in constructive and open dialogue," according to Reuters.
Samsung's construction arm, Samsung C&T, also got a boost from the news and jumped 7.9%
The Australian index pressed upward, with its energy sub-index gaining 2% and the heavily-weighed financials sub-index rising 0.7%.
In Australia, aged care provider Estia Health's shares slid 3%, recovering from losses of more than 6.7% after it trimmed its earnings guidance. Its shares had tumbled late in August when Australian regulators warned providers they could not make residents pay for capital maintenance.
On the data front, Australia posted a lower-than-expected seasonally-adjusted trade deficit of A$2.01 billion in August, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The value of imports and exports in August were nearly unchanged from the previous month.
In other markets
Markets in Shanghai remain shuttered all this week.
In Korea, the Kospi recovered 12.3 points, or 0.6%, to 2,065.30,
The Straits Times Index in Singapore regained 3.43 points, or 0.1%, to 2,885.22
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index recouped 12.03 points, or 0.1%, to 9,284.31
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 sank 73.86 points, or 1%, to 7,197.29
In Australia, the ASX 200 moved higher 30.11 points, or 0.6%, to 5,483.03
