Japanese markets rallied on upbeat corporate earnings on Thursday, while miners and financial stocks led Australia’s benchmark stock index lower.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index added 181.02 points, or 1.3%, to 14,485.13
Markets in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Korea and Shanghai were shuttered for May Day holidays
IT giant Fujitsu jumped 6.3%, after it swung back to profit for the fiscal year to March 2014. Nomura Holdings, Japan’s largest securities firm, also climbed 6.3%, as its earnings doubled to 213.6 billion yen ($2.1 billion U.S.) for the year ended March.
Smaller rival Daiwa Securities Group gained 3.1%, after its net income more than doubled to 169.5 billion yen for last year, although its fourth-quarter profit declined for the first time in nine quarters.
Electronics giant Sony Corp. ended 1% higher. After the markets closed, the company says it expects a wider loss for the just-ended fiscal year as the cost of disposing its PC business weighed on the company as a whole.
Utilities also attracted much buyer interest. Hokkaido Electric Power Company gained 13.1% and Kyushu Electric Power Company surged 9.1%, after the two companies said they would seek financial support from the government.
Tokyo Electric Power Company advanced 3.9%, as it returned to profit for the first time in four years. Shikoku Electric Power Company and Chubu Electric Power Company rose 4.8% and 3.1% each.
Meanwhile, the Japanese yen was flat against the dollar and traded at ¥102.21, compared with ¥102.25 in the prior session.
In Australia, banks and miners dragged the markets lower. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group dropped 1.2%, despite posting a 15% rise in net income for the six months ending March 31.
Meanwhile, National Australia Bank was down 1.7%, Westpac Banking Corp. was off 1.2%, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia moved lower by 0.3%.
Mining companies suffered a selloff as iron ore prices fell sharply. Fortescue Metals Group tumbled 4%, Alumina lost 2.2%, Rio Tinto gave up 1.5%, and BHP Billiton pulled back 0.7%.
In other markets;
New Zealand NZX 50 index faded 23.47 points, or 0.5%, to 5,209.21
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 40.31 points to 5,448.76
