Asia stocks ended higher Thursday, with investors looking ahead to a European Central Bank meeting later in the trading day, where officials are expected to put forward a broad strategy to tackle the region’s crisis.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Index eked up 0.75 points to 8,680.57
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong regained 64.23 points, or 0.3%, to 19,209.30
Shares of mainland China locomotive and rolling-stock manufacturer CSR Corp. jumped 8.8%, rising in sync with other state rail companies, after the central government approved plans to build dozens of subway and inner-city rail transit links as part of infrastructure spending stimulus.
Among gainers in Sydney, diversified miner Rio Tinto Ltd. rose 1.5% and energy major Santos Ltd.
Rare-earths miner Lynas Corp Ltd. surged 43% after winning a temporary operating license for its processing facility in Malaysia.
Also in Sydney, shares of Qantas Airways Ltd. ended flat, reversing gains, after the carrier secured an alliance deal with Emirates Airline.
Exporters climbed in Seoul, as LG Electronics Inc. rallied 1.4% and Samsung Electronics Co. added 0.6%.
The gains came even as South Korea revised second-quarter gross domestic product lower.
In Tokyo, tech exporters were weak following a modest drop for the Nasdaq Composite Index overnight.
Toshiba Corp. sank 3.7%, Fujitsu Ltd. fell 2%.
Shares of Sharp Corp. slumped 4.3% after Moody’s downgraded the company’s short-term credit rating, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
Sharp said Thursday it would use all its Japanese land and buildings as collateral for new loans, except for several properties it’s trying to sell.
Shares of Sony Corp. traded 0.4% lower after it said information on 400 of its Chinese and Taiwanese mobile customers had been hacked. Sony suffered other cyber attacks earlier in the year.
Gains for major auto makers tempered broader losses. Toyota Motor Corp. added 1.6%, Honda Motor Co. rose 1%.
Shares of Suzuki Motor Corp. closed up 1% after its chairman said production was picking back up in India after riots closed a key factory there.
Losses for property stocks helped tip Hong Kong into negative territory as Hang Lung Properties Ltd. surrendered 1.4% and China SCE Property Holdings Ltd. slumped 5.6%.
Consumer names bucked the downbeat trend, with Esprit Holdings Ltd up 2.7% in Hong Kong, while Zhejiang Golden Eagle Co. rose 0.6% in Shanghai.
China Foods Ltd. put on 0.5% after Deutsche Bank upgraded its recommendation on the stock to buy, noting “performance, especially on wine, has been better than expected under the new chief executive.”
Also in Hong Kong, Lenovo Group Ltd. rose 3.9%, helped by news Wednesday it had finalized a deal to buy Brazilian consumer-electronics maker Digibras Participacoes for $147 million U.S.
In other markets
Shanghai’s CSI 300 index recovered 17.95 points, or 0.8%, to 2,217.82
Korea’s Kospi index took on 7.21 points, or 0.4%, to 1,881.24
The Singapore Straits Times Index fell 6.64 points, or 0.2%, to 2,989.26
Taiwan’s Taiex Index erased 40.72 points, or 0.6%, to 7,376.72
New Zealand’s NZX index added 23.89 points, or 0.7%, to 3,693.54
Australia’s ASX Index gained 34.12 points, or 0.8%, to 4,312.89
