Japanese shares erased losses Monday to close higher on earnings-driven gains by manufacturers such as Fanuc and Mitsubishi Electric Corp., shrugging off a major defeat for the nation's ruling party in parliamentary elections.
In Tokyo, Nikkei 225 index inched up 0.03 per cent to 17,289.30 while in Hong Kong, the blue chip Hang Seng Index closed at 22,739.90 on Monday, up 169.49 points or 0.8 per cent.
Nippon Steel Corp., which said Monday that net profit rose 16 per cent in the April-June quarter, jumped 3.85 per cent to 918 yen ($7.74), while Toshiba rose 2.4 per cent to 1,142 yen ($9.63).
Precision equipment maker Fanuc Ltd. gained 1.7 per cent to 12,870 yen ($108.55) after reporting a 24 per cent rise in quarter profit Friday.
Japanese investors also shrugged off a big setback for the ruling coalition in Sunday's parliamentary elections.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's scandal-plagued Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition partner lost control of the upper house in the weekend elections. While the ruling coalition still controls a majority of seats in the more powerful lower house, the loss could put pressure on Abe to resign.
Still, the election results did not appear to pose an immediate threat to Japan's economic outlook.
ELSEWHERE:
MANILA: Philippine shares retreated for the second straight session Monday, still hurting from a sell-off triggered by heavy losses on Wall Street last week. The 30-company Philippine Stock Exchange Index dropped 51.30 points, or 1.5 percent, at 3,467.46, after plummeting 3.9 percent on Friday. The index has tumbled 8 percent since last week.
SYDNEY: The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose 25.9 points or 0.4 percent to 6,108.8.
With files from wire services
