Asia markets rose Tuesday, with Japan stocks boosted by a solid rally in banks, although Hong Kong shares lagged behind, weighed by Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. after Goldman Sachs Group Inc. pared its stake in the lender.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Index recovered 42.41 points, or 0.4%, to 10,866.72
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index erased 16.71 points, or 0.1%, to 23,655.17
The advance in Japan was fronted by the banking sector, with Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. jumping 4.4%, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. climbing 3.8% and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. rising 2.9%.
The Nikkei reported that the recent rally for the Japanese market will lift profits at the banks, which are shareholders in some of the companies that have seen sharp share price gains. Higher stock prices have also pushed up commissions from sales of investment trusts and other products, the report said.
Gains for telecom firm KDDI Corp. rising 2.8% also aided the advance in Tokyo.
The firm reported late Monday that its quarterly net profit almost doubled from a year earlier, due in part to the popularity of smartphones. The company also raised its fiscal-year smartphone sales target to 8.45 million units from a previous forecast of eight million units.
Technology shares advanced, tracking the outperformance for their U.S. peers on Wall Street Monday. Consumer electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co. rose 2.7% in Seoul, while Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. added 1.6% in Taipei.
In Hong Kong, shares of ICBC, China’s largest lender by assets, fell 2.2% on news Goldman Sachs had on Monday launched the sale of $1 billion U.S. worth of the lender’s Hong Kong listed shares, further paring its holding in the Chinese bank.
Australian investors were also buying into stocks considered less leveraged to economic growth trends, with blood products group CSL Ltd. up 3.7% and Cochlear Ltd. higher by 0.9% in the health care sector.
Miners lagged, however, with gold miners particularly weak. Perseus Mining Ltd. declined 3.7% and OceanaGold Corp. fell 5.2%
In other markets
The Shanghai CSI 300 moved higher 24 points, or 0.9%, to 2,675.87
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index doffed 14.16 points, or 0.4%, to 3,259.75
Korea’s Kospi Index added 16.25 points, or 0.8%, to 1,955.96
Taiwan’s Taiex Index improved 87.33 points, or 1.1%, to 7,802.
The NZX 50 slipped 4.15 points, or 0.1%, to 4,200.29
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 returned from a long weekend to add 53.80 points, or 1.1%, to 4,888.98.
