Asia markets closed mostly higher, with some of the major indexes rebounding Wednesday, in a sign of returning stability even in the face of lingering worries about China and falling commodity prices.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 ended several days of downward numbers by vaulting 496.67 points, or 2.9%, to 17,715.53,
The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong gained back 233.12 points, or 1.1%, to 19,934.88
The Australian dollar initially strengthened after yuan-denominated China trade figures were released, rising as high as $0.7048 U.S., compared with about $0.7018 U.S. before the data.
Energy plays saw some gains on the back of the uptick in oil prices, with shares of Santos closing up 5.4%, Woodside Petroleum 1.3% higher and Oil Search finishing 1.4% up . Inpex gained 0.7% and Japan Petroleum ended up 1.8%
Shares of Newcrest lost 4.9% Evolution Mining fell 6.1% and Alacer Gold saw losses of 1.9% by the end of trade.
Australia's big miners were mixed, Rio Tinto up 1%, and BHP Billiton, closed down 1.6%, while iron ore producer Fortescue fell 1%
Shares of Samsung Electronics finished 0.2% higher after reports emerged that the consumer electronics giant was mulling over an investment into an LCD panel joint venture between Sharp and Hon Hai Precision Industry in Taiwan.
CHINA
Chinese indexes, however, bucked the trend, following a volatile start to the year, in which Chinese stocks plunged, spurring a global market rout.
The CSI 300 Index dropped 59.83 points, or 1.9%, to 3,155.88
China's December exports fell 1.4% on year in dollar-denominated terms, while imports slid 7.6%, leaving a trade surplus of $60.09 billion U.S. for the month, according to official data. While the data beat a Reuters poll forecasting dollar-denominated exports to fall 8% and imports to decline 11.5%, it still marked a sixth month of year-on-year export declines.
But offering another sign of market stability, the People's Bank of China kept the yuan mid-point fix steady once again, setting it at 6.5630, compared to yesterday's fix of 6.5628.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index inched up 4.72 points, or 0.2%, to 2,696.50
The Kospi in Korea gained 25.42 points, or 1.3%, to 1,916.28
Taiwan’s Taiex index grew 56.16 points, or 0.7%, to 7,824.61
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 gained 39.52 points, or 0.7%, to 6,151.87
The ASX 200 recouped 62.31 points, or 1.3%, to 4,987.44
