Asian stock indexes ended mostly higher Thursday, with exporter shares and trading houses leading Tokyo higher, but Chinese banks and property developers fell on worries Beijing would renew tightening measures in the real-estate market.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index regained 73.79 points, or 0.8%, to 9,098.39
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index picked up 78.41 points, or 0.4%, to 21,167.27
In Australia, the market was focused on news the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission had continued its opposition to National Australia Bank's proposed 13.3 billion Australian dollar ($12.3-billion U.S.) bid for wealth management firm rival AXA Asia Pacific, dealing a blow to the bank's plans to become the country's largest wealth manager.
AXA Asia Pacific was down 6.6% at A$5.08, compared with NAB's A$6.43 per share bid, indicating the market expected NAB's pursuit faces insurmountable hurdles.
Santos was down 7% after saying it would sell its 15% equity stake in its Gladstone liquefied natural gas project to France's Total for A$650 million and will also sell 1.5 million tons of LNG per year to Total over 20 years. The deal is subject to regulatory approval. But investors were worried about the potential of a dilutive capital raising.
Japanese exporters were higher, with shares of Mazda and Canon both up 1.1%.
Japan's finance minister kept the threat of yen-selling intervention alive Thursday, saying the authorities "are conducting various simulations" to curb the currency's strength.
Antivirus software maker Trend Micro surged 10% after Taiwan's DigiTimes reported on its website, citing Trend Micro Chief Executive Eva Chen, that the company had received a merger proposal from an unnamed major IT company.
Real estate stocks fell after a report showed office vacancies for five central wards in Tokyo rose slightly in August from July. Mitsui Fudosan's shares ended down 3.6%.
China Unicom rose 3.4% helped by news that Apple's iPhone 4 has been awarded a China network access license, indicating the Chinese mobile operator could soon launch the device in China.
In Korea, the market was lower after the Bank of Korea kept interest rates on hold; a Dow Jones Newswires poll of 16 economists showed 11 had expected a 0.25-percentage-point hike for the key rate to 2.5%. Some in the market may be interpreting the decision as a sign the central bank is not as confident about the economic outlook as thought.
The euro was at 106.25 yen, against 106.72 yen in late in New York. The dollar bought ¥83.59, compared with ¥83.92.
CHINA
Analysts said investors were looking ahead to August trade data for China due out tomorrow.
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Index dropped 54.51 points, or 1.8%, to 2,926.46
Data showing brisk property-transaction activity in major Chinese cities during August stirred worries that Beijing may take further action to head off a bubble in the property market.
Experts also said that smaller banks were still digesting a report on Tuesday in Century Weekly magazine, which cited sources as saying that China's banking regulator is considering imposing a mandatory 2.5% loan-reserve ratio to help curb credit growth. Such a move would mostly hit small-and mid-sized lenders.
China Vanke was off 3.4%, Poly Real Estate fell 4.1 %, Industrial Bank was down 2.8% and Bank of China finished 0.9% lower.
Elsewhere;
Singapore’s Straits Times Index inched up 10.86 points, or 0.4%, to 3,022.28
Korea’s Kospi index plodded forward 5.14 points, or 0.3%, to 1,784.36
Taiwan’s Taiex Index slid 15.77 points, or 0.2%, to 7,835.54
New Zealand’s NZX index moved 9.41 points, or 0.3%, lower to 3,151.77
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 45 points, or 1%, to 4,582.20
