Asian stocks extended gains Tuesday on expectations Beijing will fine-tune its policies to support China’s economic growth and as the Japanese government upgraded its view of the economy for a third straight month.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 zoomed 120.47 points, or 0.8%, higher to 14,778.51
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index leaped 498.92 points, or 2.3%, to 21,915.42
Shares of several metals companies advanced around the region after gold and silver prices jumped in U.S. trading.
Newcrest Mining Ltd. rallied 5.4% in Sydney, Korea Zinc Co. climbed 1.6% in Seoul, and Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. added 4.3% in Tokyo.
In Tokyo, telecommunication shares added to their recent gains, with KDDI Corp. rising 2.1%, and Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. climbing 1%.
Some exporters suffered losses, however, as the U.S. dollar traded below the ¥100-level.
Shares of Hino Motors Ltd. lost 3%, while farm-and-construction-equipment maker Kubota Corp. fell 1.9%.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. fell 3.1%, after the Nikkei newspaper reported it will likely post a 7% growth in group operating profit for the quarter ended June 30.
Tokyo Electric Power Co. tumbled 6.7% after Kyodo News reported the company admitted that contaminated water from the disaster-struck Fukushima nuclear plant was leaking into the Pacific Ocean.
CHINA
The Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 progressed 63.65 points, or 2.9%, to 2,265.84
Shares of Chinese gold miner Zijin Mining Industry Co. surged 7.9%, and Jiangxi Copper Co. rose 5.2% in Hong Kong; in Shanghai trading, they gained 2.4% and 3.1%, respectively.
Shares of ZTE Corp. spiraled 19.5% in Hong Kong and by the day’s 10% limit in Shenzhen. The surge came after the telecommunications-equipment maker said the business environment was expected to improve later this year, and reported a strong increase in first-half profit despite a decline in operating revenues.
Chinese property developers also advanced amid expectations for policy intervention to support growth. Poly Real Estate Group Co. rose 3.6% in Shanghai, and China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd. climbed 4.1% in Hong Kong.
The gains came after a state newspaper cited Premier Li Keqiang as saying last week at a meeting of the State Council, China’s cabinet, that the government would take action to ensure economic growth doesn’t fall below 7%.
Meanwhile, Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli said Monday that policy makers were committed to speeding up economic restructuring and would take steps to support reasonable infrastructure and social-welfare investments, according to a Reuters report.
China’s foreign-exchange regulator said separately that the country wasn’t seeing any capital flight.
In other markets;
Taiwan’s Taiex Index strengthened 109.20 points, or 1.4%, to 8,214.65
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index returned from a long weekend to add 19.41 points, or 0.6%, to 3,253.76
Korea’s Kospi Index gained 23.80 points, or 1.3%, to 1,904.15
In New Zealand, the Exchange 50 Gross Index tacked on 26.55 points, or 0.6%, to 4,580.59
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 15.25 points, or 0.3%, to 5,017.11
