Asian shares rallied Thursday after European leaders announced a deal for private holders of Greek bonds to take a voluntary writedown on the debt.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 Index zoomed 178.07 points, or 2%, to close Thursday at 8,926.54
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index rocketed 622.16 points, or 3.3%, to 19,688.70
European leaders said early Thursday that private-sector holders of Greek government debt will take a 50% writedown on the value of their bonds, and that the euro-zone’s financial rescue fund will be increased by as much as five-fold.
Banks saw especially robust gains following the European news. In Tokyo, shares of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. rose 5.7%, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. gained 5.1%, and Nomura Holdings Inc. improved by 7.7%.
Australian financials also improved, with Westpac Banking Corp. up 2.1%, but Sydney-listed mining stocks -- which tend to react strongly to changes in the global growth outlook -- made even larger gains.
BHP Billiton Ltd. rose 3.8%, Rio Tinto Ltd. added 4.4%, and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. charged 8.9% higher.
In Hong Kong, the financial-share performance was also affected by bank earnings.
Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. climbed 6.6% after posting a forecast-beating 40% rise in third-quarter net profit late Wednesday.
China Citic Bank Corp. jumped 7.5%, after it too beat expectations with a 41% increase in quarterly profit from a year earlier.
But Bank of China Ltd. underperformed the Europe-inspired rally, advancing only 0.4% after its 9% profit rise fell well below analysts’ projections.
In Tokyo, shares of Olympus Corp. soared 23.3% after the firm’s chairman resigned. Olympus shares have lost more than 50% this month amid investigations surrounding advisory fees the company paid in some previous acquisition deals.
Sony Corp. closed with a 5.4% gain ahead of an announcement that it would buy out partner L.M. Ericsson Telephone Co.’s stake in their 10-year-old Sony-Ericsson Mobile Communications wireless-handset joint venture for about $1.47 billion U.S.
In South Korea, Hynix Semiconductor Inc. lost 1.5% after it reported that it swung to a third-quarter net loss.
Among other Korean tech shares, Samsung Electronics Co. fell 1.1%, and LG Display Co. lost 2.5%
In other markets;
Shanghai’s CSI 300 index inched up 5.83 points, or 0.2%, to 2,657.48
Taiwan’s Taiex Index added 29.39 points, or 0.4%, to 7,565.21
Korea’s Kospi Index gained 27.73 points, or 1.5%, to 1,922.04
Singapore’s Straits Times Index picked up 77.63 points, or 2.8%, to 2,847.57
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index edged up 6.50 points, or 0.2%, to 3,303.47
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index moved higher 105.70 points, or 2.5%, to 4,348.20
