Asian stocks finished mostly higher Wednesday, helped by increased hope that Greece will avoid a debt default, though rate-hike fears deflated gains in Hong Kong.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 average popped 169.77 points, or 1.8%, to 9,629.43
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 9.38 points to 21,860
The possibility of more monetary-policy tightening limited gains in Hong Kong, as investors "remain concerned about the prospect of an imminent rate hike in China," according to analysts at RBC Capital Markets.
Adding to tightening worries, China’s National Development and Reform Commission said Wednesday it expects consumer inflation to have accelerated in June from May’s 5.5% rise.
Some rate-sensitive stocks dragged on the Hong Kong market, with Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. falling 2.3%, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. down 0.7%, and property developer Sino Land Co. surrendering 2.2%.
Still, the mood was mostly positive in Asia following news late Tuesday that the Greek government won a key confidence vote. The vote paves the way for the country to approve additional austerity measures and receive further financial aid.
Investors have been worried Europe’s sovereign-debt woes will hurt the global economy, and Japanese financials rallied after the Greek vote, with Daiwa Securities Group Inc. up 4.3%, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. advancing 2.5%, and Matsui Securities Co. closing 4% higher.
Some exporters also gained ground, with stock in Hong Kong-listed Li & Fung Ltd. rising 5.6% after the Greek vote, as the company depends on Europe for much its sales.
Samsung Electronics Co. rose 1.5% in Seoul after the Nasdaq Composite rallied overnight, while in Tokyo, Toshiba Corp. advanced 2.8% and Hitachi Ltd. climbed 3.1%. In Hong Kong, Lenovo Group Ltd. ended 2.4% higher.
Elsewhere in the technology sector, Japan’s Elpida Memory Inc. surged 4.4% after it said it had developed a new, ultra-thin dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chip.
Sony Corp. jumped 3.7%, with sentiment also helped by the arrest of a U.K. teenager in connection with a hacking attack on the company’s video-game network.
Meanwhile, Alibaba.com Ltd. rallied 5.6% after its parent, Alibaba Group, said it was making progress toward an agreement with Yahoo Inc. and Japan’s Softbank Corp. over the recent transfer of ownership of its Alipay unit. Shares of Softbank rose 4.4% in Tokyo
In other markets;
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Index sliced off 0.49 points to 2,908.58
Korea’s Kospi Index picked up 15.73 points, or 0.8%, to 2,063.90
Taiwan’s Taiex Index added 23.42 points, or 0.3%, to 8,621.04
Singapore’s Straits Times Index slid 10.68 points, or 0.4%, to 3,042.83
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index docked 2.10 points to 3,457.46
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index tacked on 24.40 points, or 0.5%, to 4,532.60
