Asian stock indexes advanced Wednesday, with Australia shrugging off an interest-rate increase to end sharply higher while Japan gained on bargain buying in banks such as Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index ended 0.6% to 17,029.28 while in Hong Kong, the blue chip Hang Seng Index finished 2.9% higher at 22,536.67.
Banking shares got busy in Tokyo, with Mitsubishi UFJ rising 3.5%, Mizuho Financial adding 3.6% and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group advancing 3.1%.
The gains in Japanese banks came after sharp losses recently on weak earnings reports. Prior to Wednesday's session, Mitsubishi UFJ shares lost 8.7% in August, following a weak April-June earnings report, while Mizuho Financial tumbled 18.4% and Sumitomo Mitsui dropped 10%.
Meanwhile, shares of machinery makers dropped in a volatile trading session, after official data showed core machinery orders -- widely considered to be a measure of corporate capital investment in Japan -- fell a steeper-than-expected 10.4% in June from the previous month.
Shares of Fanuc lost 1.5%, while Komatsu tumbled 4.6%.
ELSEWHERE:
SEOUL: South Korea's Kospi advanced 2.3% to 1,903.41.
TAIPEI: Taiwan's Weighted index added 2.7% at 9,099.46.
WELLINGTON: New Zealand's NZX 50 index fell 0.5% to 4,116.85.
SYDNEY: The S&P/ASX 200 ended 1.9% higher at 6,100.80.
With files from wire services
