Japanese stocks rose narrowly Friday to clinch a sixth straight week of gains as technology firms advanced on the back of an extended rally on Wall Street, while Chinese shares rebounded on bargain buying after two days of losses.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Index gained 6.55 points to end the week at 10,129.80
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index erased 35.68 points, or 0.2%, to 21,317.80
Most other regional markets declined as investors locked in profits before the weekend, with energy shares losing ground in Sydney and Hong Kong after crude-oil prices dropped in New York Thursday.
Exporters fueled gains this week in Japan but traded indecisively Friday, as the yen recovered some recent losses against the U.S. dollar.
Technology shares outperformed the broader market, with Advantest Corp. rising 3.1% and Tokyo Electron Ltd. gaining 1.9%. But auto makers declined, with Honda Motor Co. slipping 0.6% and Toyota Motor Corp. losing 0.1%.
Hitachi Ltd. advanced 2.5% after the company said Thursday it was hiking its fiscal-year profit outlook on strong proceeds from the sale of its hard-disk-drive unit.
In Hong Kong, China Mobile Ltd. fell 1.1% after Macquarie downgraded the stock to neutral.
Energy shares in Hong Kong and Sydney were weighed by a drop in crude-oil futures overnight.
PetroChina Co. lost 1% and Cnooc Ltd. dropped 1.1% in Hong Kong.
In Sydney, Origin Energy Ltd. lost 0.3%, and Oil Search Ltd. gave up 0.9%.
In other markets;
CHINA
The Shanghai CSI 300 took on 37.97 points, or 1.5%, to 2,623.52
China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd. tumbled 4.7% after its Chairman said Chinese property market conditions will be "more severe" in the first half of this year.
Merchandise supplier and logistics firm Li & Fung Ltd. gained 2.7% amid an improving U.S. economic outlook.
Bank of Communications Co. climbed 2.1% in Hong Kong as investors looked past concerns of equity-dilution from the lender’s 56.6 billion yuan ($8.95 billion U.S.) share placement, on hopes the move will boost its capital position. In Shanghai, the stock fell 0.6%.
In other markets;
Korea’s Kospi Index dropped 9.32 points, or 0.5%, to 2,034.44
The Taiex index in Taiwan shed 66.68 points, or 0.8%, to 8,054.94
Singapore’s Straits Times Index docked 15.16 points, or 0.5%, to 3,010.68
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index dipped 28.71 points, or 0.8%, to 3,505.02
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index drooped 1.61 points to 4,276.16
