Most Asian markets clinched gains Monday, with copper miners boosting Australian shares after China’s Minmetals Resources Ltd. launched a takeover offer for Equinox Minerals Ltd., while Japanese stocks were supported by a weakened yen.
The Nikkei 225 Index tacked on 10.50 points, or 0.1%, to 9,718.89.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rumbled ahead 348.68 points, or 1.5%, to 24.150.60
Stocks of Japanese exporters struggled to hang on to gains during the session. Caution about how the March 11 natural disasters would affect corporate earnings tempered market sentiment despite the yen’s fall against the dollar and the euro, and upbeat U.S. jobs data for March.
Canon Inc. ended unchanged and Toyota Motor Corp. fell 0.5%, with both finishing well off the day’s highs.
But Nikon Corp. added 0.5% and Mazda Motor Corp. rose 1.1% as the U.S. dollar hovered around the 84 yen-level.
Also offering support to the market, Fast Retailing Co. jumped 3.4% on a Credit Suisse upgrade to outperform from neutral.
IHI Corp. climbed 4% after the company signed a marketing deal with Sweden’s Atlas Copco AB, while Nippon Electric Glass Co. fell 2.2% on a Deutsche Securities downgrade to Hold.
The Australian stock market was supported by merger-and-acquisition activity in the copper- mining space.
Shares of Equinox soared 29% to 7.35 Australian dollars ($7.64 U.S.) after China’s Minmetals launched a seven-Canadian-dollar (A$6.98-a-share) takeover bid for the copper miner. In Hong Kong trading, shares of Minmetals rose 2.4%.
The news also bolstered other copper miners, with Oz Minerals Ltd. climbing 2.2% and PanAust Ltd. surging 8.4%.
Some regional energy shares also got a lift from rising crude-oil prices. Woodside Petroleum Ltd. rose 0.7% and Santos Ltd. climbed 0.6% in Sydney.
Cnooc Ltd. added 1.7% in Hong Kong. Hong Kong stocks were also supported by a 5.3% jump in shares of Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd., after Citigroup upgraded the bourse operator to buy from sell.
Shares of SK Innovation Co. dropped 10%, while S-Oil Corp. slid 5.6%.
In foreign-exchange trade, the euro took a breather after recent rises amid expectations of a possible rate hike by the European Central Bank at its policy meeting this week.
The single currency was recently fetching $1.4220 U.S., compared with $1.4233 U.S. late Friday in New York, and 119.56 yen, compared with ¥119.51. The euro was quoted as high as ¥120.09 on Monday, the highest since May 10 last year.
In other markets;
Korea’s Kospi Index dipped 5.14 points, or 0.2%, to 2,115.87
Singapore’s Straits Times Index picked up 20.15 points, or 0.7%, to 3,140.62
New Zealand’s NZX 50 nipped ahead 7.37 points, or 0.2%, to 3,459.51
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 prospered 25 points, or 0.5%, to 4,886.80
Markets in Taiwan and Shanghai had the day off
