Major Asian markets closed in positive territory on Tuesday, extending Monday's rally
The Nikkei 225 closed higher 31.85 points, or 0.2%, to 16,054.43
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index gained 203.94 points, or 1.1%, to 19,122.08
Shares in Japanese telecommunication and internet giant Softbank surged 15.9% after the company announced a share buy-back amounting to as much as 500 billion yen ($4.4 billion U.S.) or 14.2% of its own shares.
Toshiba shares closed up 8.2% after reports said the electronics maker was not considering withdrawing from personal computer (PC) production and selling its Hangzhou factory in China. Earlier, the Sankei newspaper in Japan had said the company was planning to pull out of PCs as it restructured its business following a massive accounting scandal.
Major Japanese exporters such as Toyota, Nissan, Honda, and Sony finished mixed. The U.S. dollar-yen pair, which fell as low as the 111-mark last week, was flat at 114.52 in the afternoon. A stronger yen is usually a negative for exporters because it decreases their overseas profits when the cash is converted to the local currency.
Energy plays across the region were mostly higher with Santos gaining 5.9%, Oil Search up by 5.8%, Inpex up by 2.2%, and S-Oil adding 4.3%.
Hong Kong-listed shares of CNOOC, Petrochina, and Sinopec were up as much as 6.4% while mainland shares of China Oilfield finished up by 2.7%
Big miners including Rio Tinto gained 2.3% and BHP Billiton finished up 3.8% respectively, while iron ore producer Fortescue gained nearly 10%
Gold miners, however, took a hit, with Newcrest sliding 5.6% but Alacer Gold retraced losses of over 1% to finish 1.1% as spot gold slid 1.3% to $1,194 U.S. an ounce.
CHINA
The Shanghai CSI 300 index took on 90.33 points, or 3.1%, to 3,037.04
Though China's trade balance for January, released Monday, was weak, comments from the People's Bank of China (PBOC) governor sent the yuan to its strongest level against the dollar for the year, with the U.S. dollar-yuan pair at 6.4943 at yesterday's market close.
The pair traded higher on Tuesday, up 0.2% at 6.5081.
Iron ore futures in China, traded on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, were up 0.6% on Tuesday at midday, while the spot benchmark, compiled by the Steel Index, was up 5.6% at $45.60 U.S. a tonne on Monday.
In other markets;
In Korea, the Kospi index picked up 26.1 points, or 1.4%, to 1,888.30
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index added 36.68 points, or 1.4%, to 2,644.58
In Taiwan, the Taiex index leaped 145.56 points, or 1.8%, to 8,212.07
The NZX 50 in New Zealand moved up 41.09 points, or 0.7%, to 6,075.37.
In Australia, the ASX 200 jumped 66.58 points, or 1.4%, to 4,910.04
