Asian markets ended higher Wednesday after crude-oil prices declined and the U.S. left interest rates unchanged, triggering a sharp overnight rise on Wall Street. Exporters such as Sony Corp. and airlines like Korean Air Co. led the broad rally, while Commonwealth Bank of Australia fronted a bank surge in Sydney.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed up 340.23 points or 2.6% at 13,254.89 while Hong Kong financial markets were closed as an approaching cyclone brought gale-force winds and heavy rain into the territory, prompting officials to issue a citywide shutdown order.
On the economic front, a preliminary report from the Cabinet Office showed that the Japanese leading index dropped to 91.2 in June from 92.9 reported in May. Economists were looking for a reading of 91.1.
Meanwhile, the coincident index stood at 101.7, in line with expectations. However, the index fell from May's 103.3. Further, the lagging index slid to 102.3 from 103.4 registered in May.
Automakers posted sharp gains, with Honda rising 3.9%, Toyota climbing 3.1%, Mazda surging 7.2%, Nissan gaining 4.5% and Mitsubishi Motors advancing 3.6%.
In the tech sector, Sanyo soared 10.1%, Fujitsu surged 9.5%, Pioneer jumped 13.0%, Sony rose 5.7% and Advantest gained 6.1%. Sony said that it signed a deal with German company Bertelsmann AG to buy out that company's equity interest in music producer Sony BMG, making the joint venture a wholly-owned unit. Other gainers in the tech sector were Olympus 1.7%, Toshiba gained 3.9% and Canon 5.0%.
However, the big banks closed mixed. Mizuho Financial advanced 1.4% and Sumitomo Mitsui rose 0.5%, while Mitsubishi UFJ lost 1.2%. Top brokerage Nomura Holdings surged 5.2%.
Oil explorer Inpex Holdings jumped 3.2%, Nippon Oil climbed 1.9% and Nippon Mining Holdings gained 1.5% despite oil's continued weakness.
The Chinese market closed higher, led by financial stocks and airlines, as crude oil prices continued to decline. The Shanghai Composite Index closed up 28.62 points or 1.06% at 2,719.37, ending a two-day losing streak.
Air China rose 1.6%, China Southern Airlines gained 1.7% and China Eastern Airlines advanced 0.9%. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China added 1.6%, Beijing-based developer Financial Street jumped 2.6% and Citic Securities surged 2.7%.
Refiners posted sharp gains on lower oil prices. Sinopec jumped 3.2% and index heavyweight PetroChina climbed 1.3%.
Bucking the trend, gold producers fell after gold futures for December delivery fell 2.4% to US$886.10 an ounce in New York on Tuesday. Zijin Mining Group lost 2.7% and Zhongjin Gold plunged 3.3%.
Elsewhere:
Taiwan's Taiex closed up 3.1% at 7,026.
Singapore's STI closed up 0.9% at 2,886.
Malaysia's KLCI closed up 0.4% at 1,133.
Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index closed flat at 2,187.
India's Sensex closed up 0.8% at 15,073.
South Korea's Kospi added 2.8%.
New Zealand's NZX 50 index advanced 1.7%
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 soared 3.1% to 4,969.10.
with files from other wire services
