Chinese stocks declined Thursday on renewed concern about further monetary-policy tightening by the country’s central bank.
Most other Asian markets posted gains after another day of advances on Wall Street.
The Nikkei 225 Index moved upward 46.31 points, or 0.5%, to 9,755.10
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained 76.09 points, or 0.3%, to 23,527.50
Hong Kong shares extended gains on the back of strong earnings reports from a number of companies. Japanese stocks recovered from early losses as the yen’s recent weakness and optimism about reconstruction after the devastating earthquake and tsunami on March 11 aided investor sentiment.
The day’s broad advance came after stocks on Wall Street ended higher and data for the U.S. labour market were upbeat, although volumes in some markets including Japan were modest on caution ahead of the release of key nonfarm payrolls figures for March on Friday.
Nissan Motor Co. rose 1% after the Nikkei newspaper reported that the company and France’s Renault SA were considering a structure that would put the two companies under a single umbrella.
Shares of Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant, which has been struggling to contain radiation leaks since the earthquake, was unable to hang on to its early gains and finished unchanged.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch estimated in a report that compensation claims from the utility could reach as high as 10 trillion yen ($121.2 billion U.S.) under a worst-case scenario. The stock lost as much as 78% of its value in March, wiping out tens of billions of dollars in investor wealth.
In Sydney, Woodside Petroleum Ltd. fell 2% after saying on Wednesday that it wouldn’t comment on market speculation about a potential takeover bid for the company’s stock.
In foreign-exchange trade, the euro rose against the U.S. dollar on expectations March euro-zone inflation data due later in the global session will show continuing inflationary pressures and bolster the prospect of an interest-rate hike from the European Central Bank at next week’s policy meeting.
The euro was at $1.4211 U.S. compared with $1.4127 U.S. in late New York trade Wednesday, and at ¥117.63 versus ¥117.09. The U.S. dollar was at ¥82.78, weaker than its level of ¥82.89 late in New York, but way off the ¥76.25 record low it touched earlier this month.
CHINA
Chinese stocks took a different path, and moved earthward. The Shanghai CSI 300 Index slid another 32.79 points, or 1%, to 3,223.29.
The day’s losses in Shanghai came even as Goldman Sachs upgraded its China equity stance to overweight from market weight, saying recent inflation and macroeconomic activity suggest the nation’s policy tightening "is beginning to bite," which in turn leads its economists to expect less tightening ahead.
As part of its efforts to fight inflation, China has raised banks’ reserve- requirement ratio nine times since the start of last year, and hiked benchmark interest rates three times since October.
The China Securities Journal wrote in an editorial Tuesday that the March CPI will likely exceed 5%, and the central bank could raise interest rates around April or toward the middle of the year to help bring prices down.
Metals companies lost ground, with Aluminum Corp. of China falling 2.7% and Jiangxi Copper Co. falling 1.7%.
Shares of Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. dropped 1.1% and Bank of Communications Co. fell 0.9%, although the two lenders Wednesday reported 2010 results that were in line with expectations, or better.
In other markets;
Taiwan’s Taiex Index advanced 36.99 points, or 0.4%, to 8,683.30
Korea’s Kospi Index added 15.32 points, or 0.7%, to 2,106.70
Singapore’s Straits Times Index picked up 10.53 points, or 0.3%, to 3,105.85
New Zealand’s NZX 50 improved 6.69 points, or 0.2%, to 3,439.85
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 prospered 15.70 points, or 0.3%, to 4,837.90
