Asian markets ended higher Thursday as an overnight surge on Wall Street, and in commodity prices, lifted metal and mining stocks, while exporters extended gains to send Japanese shares to their highest finish in more than five months.
The Nikkei 225 Index leaped 180.47 points, or 1.8%, to 10,168.50, a level last reached on June 21.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rocketed up 198.98 points, or 0.9%, to 23,448.80.
Stock-market rallies in the U.S. and Europe and Wednesday’s weaker yen helped lift Japanese shares.
Canon Inc. was up 2.5% and Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. advanced 3.1%, apparently powering through news of a 3.3% fall in U.S. new-vehicle sales in November. Toyota Motor Corp. by contrast, slipped 0.6%.
Mining and other resource stocks rose across the region, with BHP Billiton Ltd. rising 2.6% and Rio Tinto PLC climbing 2.3% in Sydney. Inpex Corp. was up 1.2% in Tokyo, Cnooc climbed 3.2% in Hong Kong and PetroChina rose 1.2%.
The gains in Sydney came even as Australian retail sales fell 1.1%, against expectations of a 0.4% rise.
Shares of Chinese coal majors tumbled while independent power producers jumped in Hong Kong after Xinhua reported an official at National Development & Reform Commission as saying that China’s coal miners must keep prices in 2011 unchanged from this year’s contracts.
Yanzhou Coal Mining fell 3.2%, China Coal Energy lost 4.4% and China Shenhua Energy tumbled 5.1%.
Among the independent power producers, which benefit from stable coal prices, Huadian Power International climbed 2.4% while Huaneng Power International and Datang International Power both jumped 6.8%.
In Seoul, Samsung Electronics climbed 4.8% after it confirmed that it will spend 2.6 trillion won ($17.4 billion U.S.) to build a plant in China to make liquid-crystal displays.
In foreign-exchange markets, the euro took a breather against the U.S. dollar and the yen in Asia trade following its rise Wednesday. Traders pointed to euro selling by Japanese exporters and caution ahead of the European Central Bank’s rate decision and press conference, set for later Thursday.
During European hours, the euro reached a new session high versus the U.S. dollar to trade at $1.319, a gain of 0.6% from Wednesday.
CHINA
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Index recovered 19.04 points, or 0.6%, to 3,155.06. Jiangxi Copper climbed 2.1% in Shanghai.
In other markets
Singapore’s Straits Times Index hiked 16.02 points, or 0.5%, to 3,197.96
Korea’s Kospi Index progressed 20.94 points, or 1.1%, to 1,950.26
Taiwan’s Taiex Index improved 65.66 points, or 0.8%, to 8,585.77
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index moved higher 20.39 points, or 0.6%, to 3,285.49
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index moved up 89.60 points, or 2%, to 4,676.20, its best percentage gain since September.
