Asian shares diverged Tuesday, as a rebound for Tepco and gains for Toyota helped support the Japanese market, but as Hong Kong shares fell prey to U.S. economic worries.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 average hiked 62.60 points, or 0.7%, to 9,442.95
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index returned from a long weekend to peel off 80.89 points, or 0.4%, to 22,868.70
Toyota Motor Corp. closed with a 2.2% gain after the Nikkei newspaper reported the company will hike output of its Prius hybrid by 70% due to strong demand.
Japanese gainers also included Tokyo Electric Power Co., better known as Tepco, which rose 4.4% -- after trading limit-down a day earlier -- after Japanese government chief spokesman Yukio Edano reportedly said Monday that authorities were trying to avoid bankruptcy for the company.
Other Japanese-listed power companies also staged a rebound on Tuesday, with Kansai Electric Power Co. and Chubu Electric Power Co. each up 2%.
Toshiba Corp. added 3% and Sony Corp. fell 1.5% after a Nikkei report that the pair were in final negotiations to unify operations in LCD panels for smartphones, tablet computers and other mobile devices.
The move would create a firm expected to overtake Sharp Corp. as the global leader for the panels, the report said. Sharp shares nonetheless closed higher, up 1.2%.
After a three-day weekend, Hong Kong investors were catching up to losses inspired by disappointing U.S. jobs data at the end of last week.
Some shares sensitive to global growth held onto losses, such as shipper Cosco Pacific Ltd., which closed down 2%.
HSBC Holdings slipped 0.2% after Credit Suisse cut its rating on the stock to neutral from outperform.
Previously announced changes to the Hang Seng Index went into effect Tuesday, with AIA Group Ltd. joining the blue-chip index and Foxconn International Holdings Ltd. departing.
AIA lost 1.6%, and Foxconn traded down 2.3%. Hengan International Group Co. , which also joined the index Tuesday, recovered from an early loss to rise 0.3%.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index pared early losses after the Reserve Bank of Australia kept its key cash rate on hold at 4.75%, but still ended down 0.1%, at 4,566.30.
Weaker commodity prices weighed on Australian-listed miners and energy firms, with Alumina Ltd. closing down 1.4%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. falling 2%, and Woodside Petroleum Ltd. down 1.2%.
However, airline Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd. bucked the lower trend, rallying 3.5% after the firm said that it will enter into a code-sharing deal with Singapore Airlines Ltd.
In other markets;
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Index picked up 17.91 points, or 0.6%, to 3,004.26
Korea’s Kospi Index settled 13.76 points, or 0.7%, to 2,099.71
Taiwan’s Taiex Index improved 10.82 points, or 0.1%, to 9,057.10
Singapore’s Straits Times Index eked up 2.22 points to 3,115.95
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index sifted off 9.15 points, or 0.3%, to 3,505.61
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 2.80 points to 4,566.30
