Chinese shares regained momentum this week, having crossed into a bull market, while Japan shares closed at a two-month high.
But unlike October, when Asian markets marched higher to the drumbeat of global-central bank moves, benchmarks in the region are responding to idiosyncratic drivers in the first week of November.
The Nikkei 225 strengthened 149.19 points, or 0.8%, to 19,265.60, , its highest close since Aug. 21.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng tumbled 183.71 points, or 0.8%, to 22,867.33
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is up 1% for the week, lifted by Chinese shares.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.5% this week, and Nikkei gained 1%.
Japanese companies logged a combined 16.6% on-year rise in net profit for the six-month period through September, according to SMBC Nikko Securities. The data covers 56% of companies listed on the first section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange whose fiscal years end in March.
The Nikkei’s gains for the week come as investors are still holding out hope that the Bank of Japan will introduce more stimulus soon, even though the central bank held its monetary policy steady last week. Hopes that central banks around the world would inject stimulus into their economies led Asian markets to their best month in more than six years in October.
A high-profile initial public offering of the state’s mail delivery business, Japan’s largest IPO in decades, also lured some investors to the market. Meanwhile, a weakening yen, as the U.S. dollar strengthens, is a boon for Japanese exporters, whose goods become more competitive.
The yen down roughly 1.1% against the U.S. dollar this week, was last at ¥121.90 to one U.S. dollar. It was off 0.2% compared with ¥121.68 late in Asia Thursday.
Shares of Japan Post Holdings Co. Ltd. and its financial units each fell more than 3% Friday but have gained by double digits since they started trading on Wednesday for the first time, amid investor demand for cheaply valued shares and high dividends.
Shares of Japan Post Holdings, Japan Post Bank and Japan Post Insurance are up 25%, 18% and 70% from their respective premarket IPO prices.
Meanwhile, shares of Takata Corp. fell 6% on Friday, amid allegations the firm misrepresented and manipulated test data for its air-bag inflaters. That follows a 25% decline on Thursday.
In Australia, the banking sector pressured shares, with a gauge of the financial sector down 1.2% this week, its second straight week of losses. The S&P/ASX 200 index gained 0.4% on Friday.
Shares of the nation’s four largest banks — Commonwealth Bank of Australia Westpac Banking Corp. National Australia Bank Ltd. and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd — all fell this week, after reporting mixed earnings over the past two weeks.
CHINA
The CSI 300 in Shanghai jumped 87.4 points, or 2.4%, to 3,739.37
Shanghai entered a bull market on Thursday, rising 20% since Aug. 26, the bottom of what had been a volatile summer selloff for mainland equities. A bull market is defined as a rise of 20% from a recent low.
Most of China’s gains came Wednesday, when China’s central bank published an out-of-date statement a day earlier about a possible Shenzhen-Hong Kong trading link launching this year.
The comments nevertheless fueled a frenzy of buying in local brokerages, some of which gained by the maximum 10% daily limit set by regulators for two-straight days, amid optimism that an influx of foreign cash would soon follow.
Some analysts have said that state-back funds, first tasked to support the market during the throes of the selloff in July, may have made another push this week to increase holdings in blue chips.
In other markets
The Kospi index in Korea lost 8.34 points, or 0.4%, to 2,041.07
Taiwan’s Taiex index plummeted 156.61 points, or 1.8%, to 8,693.57
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index dumped 13.18 points, or 0.4%, to 3,010.47
The NZX 50 subtracted 3.89 points, or 0.1%, to 6,069.74
The ASX 200 hiked 22.04 points, or 0.4%, to 5,215.01
