Asian markets extended gains Thursday, with Japanese shares rising for the third straight session as relief over dropping crude-oil prices and a dose of short-covering lifted automobile and financial shares.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed up 290.38 points or 2.18% at 13,603.31 while the benchmark Hang Seng Index fell 46.83 points or 0.2% to end the session at 23,087.72.
On the economic front, the Ministry of Finance said that Japan's trade surplus for the month of June plummeted 88.9% from a year ago to 138.6 billion yen, or US$1.3 billion. Exports declined 1.7% to 7.16 trillion yen, while imports increased 16.2% to 7.02 trillion yen on the back of surging crude oil and other commodities. The surplus figure was far below the 450 billion yen most economists had forecast.
Among financials, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group advanced 1.7% and Mitsubishi UFJ gained 2.2%, while Mizuho Financial dropped 1.0%. General leasing firm Orix jumped 5.8% and top brokerage Nomura Holdings surged 4.2%. Insurer Mitsui Sunitomo Insurance rose 4.0%, T&D Holdings added 1.9%, Tokio Marine Holdings advanced 2.3% and Sompo Japan Insurance jumped 3.8%.
Exporters gained, supported by a weaker yen. Toyota Motor soared 5.1% after a Nikkei report said that the Japanese automaker beat General Motors in global car sales in January-June for two years in a row. Among others in the sector, Canon rose 3.7%, Honda Motor jumped 3.8%, machinery maker Komatsu gained 3.1% and consumer electronics company Sony advanced 3.9%.
Tech gainers included Advantest 5.5%, Fanuc 0.9%, NEC 1.7% and Tokyo Electron 4.3%.
Oil-related stocks lost ground. Gas and oil field developer Inpex Holdings fell 4.3%, Nippon Oil gave away 0.6%, Nippon Mining Holdings dropped 0.5% and Showa Shell slipped 0.3%.
Toshiba Corp. surged 5.2%, despite a Nikkei newspaper report that the company is expected to post a consolidated operating loss of about 20 billion yen for the April-June period.
Toray Industries Inc. jumped 4.8% on the back of a report that the synthetic resin maker, Nissan Motor and Honda Motor will jointly develop a new carbon fiber material for use in auto bodies.
The Chinese market closed sharply higher, led by financials and property developers, ending a two-day losing streak. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed up 72.44 points or 2.55% at 2,910.29.
Among banks, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank jumped 8.2%, China Merchants Bank gained 5.6% and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China climbed 5.2%. Ping An Insurance surged 7.1% and China Life Insurance advanced 4.7%.
In the property sector, Poly Real Estate Group soared 10.0%, China Merchants Property Development surged 7.4% and China Vanke surged 6.7%.
Airlines benefited from the retreat in oil prices and speculation that the government might merge China Eastern Airlines and Shanghai Airlines. Air China rose 2.4%, China Southern Airlines gained 2.1%, China Eastern Airlines advanced 1.5%. The company has denied that it is engaged in talks to merge with Shanghai Airlines.
Index heavyweight PetroChina added 1.3%, while China Petroleum & Chemical or Sinopec advanced 3.0%.
Elsewhere:
In Wellington, the NZX 50 index jumped 2.7% to 3,287.23.
The S&P/ASX 200 index gained 0.8% to 5,114.10 in Sydney.
The Kospi added 2.2% in Seoul.
The Straits Times index was little changed recently in Singapore.
The Taiex rose 0.8% in Taipei.
Malaysia's KLCI closed up 0.2% at 1,141.
Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index closed up 1.4% at 2,257.
India's Sensex closed down 1.1% at 14,777.
with files from other wire services
