Most Asian stock markets advanced Friday as an unexpected increase in U.S. pending-home sales helped ease economic worries and sent Japanese shares higher for a third straight session on the back of exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index gained 51.29 points, or 0.6%, to end the week at 9,114.13
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index surged 102.58 points, or 0.5%, to 20,971.50.
Volumes were muted in many equity markets, however, and stocks and currencies were confined to narrow ranges as cautious investors awaited the U.S. nonfarm-payrolls report for August.
Elpida Memory rose 3.4% and Sony Corp. added 2.4% in Tokyo, while Seoul Semiconductor soared 6.5% and Hynix Semiconductor gained 3.3% in Seoul.
Doing better still in Taipei, shares of Chimei Innolux Corp. gained 6.9% and MediaTek soared 6.7%, while Nanya Technology surged by the day's 7% limit.
In Tokyo, Toyota jumped 2.1% to end a four-session losing streak as Mazda Motor gained 2.2%, with the Japanese yen taking a breather after strong gains recently.
On the downside in Seoul, shares of Shinhan Financial Group dropped 1.9%.
Investor worries about the company's internal governance surfaced as the board took steps to remove Shin Sang-hoon as president and CEO. Shinhan Bank, a unit of Shinhan Financial, said on Thursday it filed a complaint with prosecutors against Shin Sang-hoon and six others and accused them of breach of trust as well as embezzlement.
Resource sector shares gained in Sydney as gold stood at $1,251.80 U.S. an ounce, up 50 cents U.S. from its New York close. October Nymex crude-oil futures fell 44 cents U.S. to $74.58 U.S. a barrel on Globex, after rising $1.11 U.S. in regular trading overnight.
Rio Tinto added 0.9% and Oz Minerals climbed 4.2%, while Newcrest Mining advanced 1.7%.
And shares of Sydney-listed Andean Resources soared 31% on a deal in which Goldcorp Inc. has agreed to acquire all outstanding shares for $3.6 billion Canadian.
Under pressure, shares of Nufarm dropped 3.4% after Standard & Poor's placed the company's BB long-term corporate debt rating under review for possible downgrade, on concerns about liquidity and its ability to improve profitability in fiscal 2011.
In Hong Kong, Sino Land rose 3.2%. The property developer said Thursday net profit for the 12 months ended June 30 rose 63%, helped by revaluation gains in its investment properties.
But shares of fashion retailer Esprit Holdings dropped 5.4% on strong volume after its annual profit, also reported a day earlier, fell short of estimates.
In currencies, the euro changed hands at $1.2828 U.S. from $1.2821 U.S. late Thursday in New York, and at 108.16 yen from 107.96 yen. The dollar was fetching 84.31 yen, compared with 84.21 yen.
CHINA
Chinese banks broadly declined after the China Securities Journal said, citing its own statistics, that loans with potentially high credit risk increased at four of China's five biggest banks during the second quarter from the preceding three months.
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Index skidded 1.19 points to 2,920.20
Shares of Bank of China fell 0.6% and Bank of Communications gave up 0.8% in Shanghai.
Also lower, China Vanke shed 0.8% after saying its property sales in August more than doubled from a year earlier to 11.99 billion yuan ($1.77 billion U.S.), a record monthly performance for a Chinese property developer.
Elsewhere;
Singapore’s Straits Times Index inched ahead 15.90 points, or 0.5% to 3,002.56
Korea’s Kospi index gained 4.29 points, or 0.2% to 1,780.02
Taiwan’s Taiex Index improved 109.39 points, or 1.4%, to 7,830.21
New Zealand’s NZX index moved 24.94 points, or 0.8%, higher to 3,107.43
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 8.50 points, or 0.2%, to 4,541.20
