Asian stocks traded mostly higher Wednesday, tracking U.S. gains on an unconfirmed report that Europe’s key bailout fund would be significantly expanded, but some bourses saw their early advances fade.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 Index forged ahead 30.63 points, or 0.4%, to end Wednesday at 8,772.54
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index gained 232.76 points, or 1.3%, to 18,309.22
The share moves in Asia followed a 1.6% rise for the Dow industrials and a 2% climb for the S&P 500 after the Guardian newspaper cited unidentified European Union diplomats as saying France and Germany had agreed to add $2.47 trillion U.S. to the European Financial Stability Facility, with the move to be announced this weekend.
The report and subsequent U.S. advance helped boost some Asian financial shares, even as other news media questioned the Guardian account, citing sources who said nothing was yet decided.
In Hong Kong, HSBC Holdings PLC closed 1.7% higher, Bank of China Ltd. gained 2.3%, and China Merchants Bank Co. improved by 2.8%.
In Sydney, National Australia Bank Ltd rose 1.5%, Westpac Banking Corp. was up 1.3%, and among insurers, QBE Insurance Group Ltd. added 2.1%.
But several analysts saw the gains as mostly technical, with one expert saying investors appeared to be "rejecting" the Guardian report as a reason to buy.
Among the region’s weak spots were Japanese tech shares, with Louis Capital’s Collett saying disappointing Apple Inc. earnings overnight had weighed on sentiment toward the sector.
Sony Corp. lost 1.2%, Fujitsu Ltd. dropped 1.7%, and Sharp Corp. closed 1% lower.
Toshiba Corp. fell 2.4% as flooding in Thailand threatened one of its plants there, and chip maker Elpida Memory Inc. finished down 5.3%, extending a downtrend since warning last week of a first-half loss.
Among notable gainers, many Hong Kong-listed property developers bounced off of their recent losses, with Henderson Land Development Co. climbing 4%, while Sun Hung Kai Properties Ltd. and Sino Land Co. each gained 1.9%.
First Shanghai Securities’ Yip said that the rise for these property plays was more a reaction to the previous session’s losses than any fundamental positives for the group.
In other markets;
Shanghai’s CSI 300 index slipped 9.13 points, or 0.4%, to 2,583.02
Taiwan’s Taiex Index dipped 6.11 points, or 0.1%, to 7,353.37
Korea’s Kospi Index inched up 17.02 points, or 0.9%, to 1,855.92
Singapore’s Straits Times Index stumbled 4.48 points, or 0.2%, to 2,720.21
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index regained 20.92 points, or 0.6%, to 3,300.03
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index added 26.80 points, or 0.6%, to 4,213.70
