Most major Asian markets advanced on Thursday, taking cues from overnight gains in U.S. equities that followed a rise in oil prices, but Chinese stocks fell behind their regional peers and extended losses from the previous session.
The Nikkei 225 bolted higher 457.08 points, or 2.7%, to 16,906.54
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong recovered 385.94 points, or 1.8%, 21,622.25
Relative weakness in the yen sent export stocks in Japan higher, with shares of Toyota advancing 3.2%, Nissan up 3.2% and Honda higher by 2.1%
Shares of Mitsubishi Motors were flooded with sell orders on Thursday, and data showed it ended down 20.5% at market close. This follows an admission by the Japanese automaker that it falsified fuel economy test data to make emissions levels look more favourable.
Australian banking stocks advanced on Thursday, with the ASX 200's heavily weighted financials sub-index adding 0.8%. The country's so-called Big Four banks - ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac and NAB - closed up as much as 1.7%.
Energy plays in Asia closed higher, with shares of Santos jumping 10%, Woodside Petroleum up 5.9%, Inpex gaining 5.7% and South Korea's S-Oil up 1.5%
Australian resource producers also advanced, with major miners Rio Tinto, Fortescue and BHP Billiton adding up to 4.6% on the back of higher commodity prices.
CHINA
The Shanghai CSI 300 index fell 20.42 points, or 0.6%, to 3,160.60
Mainland Chinese shares of oil concern Sinopec fell 0.2%. Chinese metal plays were up, with shares of Yunnan Copper advancing 2.4% Baotou Steel up 3.5% and Aluminium Corp up 1.5%.
The People's Bank of China did a seven-day reverse repurchase agreement of 250 billion yuan on Wednesday, which experts said was not enough to offset the shortage. Still, he said the prospects of imminent monetary stimulus were limited given the relative strength of the housing market.
On Monday, data showed China's home prices in 70 major cities increased 4.9% on-year in March.
In other markets;
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index regained 54.17 points, or 0.6%, to 8,568.65
In Korea, the Kospi index moved higher 16.27 points, or 0.8%, to 2,022.60
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index recouped 10.83 points, or 0.4%, to 2,960.78
New Zealand’s NZX 50 picked up 4.84 points, or 0.1%, to 6,906.10
In Australia, the ASX 200 added 56.76 points, or 1.1%, to 5,272.71
