Japanese and Australian stocks ended at their highest levels in several months Tuesday on upbeat corporate results, even as concerns about inflation and interest-rate increases pulled South Korean shares lower.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index added 43.94 points, or 0.4%, to 10,636, its best showing in more than nine months.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 69.29 points, or 0.3%, to 23,484.30.
Stocks in both Tokyo and Sydney drew support from a financial-stocks-driven rally on Wall Street overnight, with Australian lenders also spurred by a bullish trading update from National Australia Bank. A 1.9% gain in NAB shares was backed by a 1.1% rise in Westpac Banking Corp. and a 0.8% increase in Commonwealth Bank of Australia stock.
But Macquarie Group bucked the broader market, slipping 0.3% after saying its profit in the fiscal second-half ending March 31 was likely to drop 5% on-year.
In Tokyo, Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. rose 1.7% after the nonferrous metal firm late Monday raised its earnings outlook for the fiscal year through March due to higher-than-expected prices of gold, copper and other metals.
KDDI Corp. jumped 5.8% after Credit Suisse upgraded the stock to outperform from neutral on the company’s smartphone business performance and a change of chief executive officer.
Meanwhile, fears of likely monetary policy tightening gripped markets in South Korea.
In Seoul, market bellwether Samsung Electronics dropped 1.1% and Hyundai Motor Co. gave up 2.2% ahead of the Bank of Korea’s policy rate decision Friday.
The Bank of Korea is widely expected to raise interest rates by 0.25 percentage points on Friday.
Some base metal shares in the region rose after copper prices set a new record high on the London Metals Exchange Monday, before retreating.
Shares of BHP Billiton added 0.9% and Rio Tinto climbed 1.7% in Sydney, with Aluminum Corp. of China adding 1.2%.
But some energy producers lost ground on an extended fall in crude-oil prices in New York overnight. Cnooc dropped 2.1% in Hong Kong and Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. shed 2.1%.
In foreign-exchange markets, the euro rose to $1.3630 U.S. from $1.3583 U.S. in late New York trade Monday, and to 111.92 yen from ¥111.82. The dollar weakened to ¥82.13, from ¥82.32.
In other markets
Markets in China had the day off for the Lunar New Year holidays this week
Taiwan’s Taiex Index returned from holiday to lose 33.89 points, or 0.4%, to 9,111.46
Korea’s Kospi Index let go of 12.04 points, or 0.6%, to 2,069.70
Singapore’s Straits Times Index fell 6.82 points, or 0.2%, to 3,185.26
New Zealand’s NZX 50 slid 4.24 points, or 0.1%, to 3,383.17
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 grew 21.90 points, or 0.5%, to 4,890.40, to stretch its winning streak to a fifth straight session and finish at a level it hasn’t seen since April.
