Most Asian markets survived early volatility to end higher Tuesday, with Hong Kong stocks spiking more than 14% to claw back from some of their steep losses in the previous five sessions.
The benchmark 225-issue Nikkei average closed up 459.02 points, or 6.4%, at 7,621.92 while the benchmark Hang Seng index closed up 1,580.45 points or 14.35% at 12,596.29.
On the economic front, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said that retail sales in Japan fell 0.4% on year in September, retreating for the first time in fourteen months. That was below expectations of a flat reading following a 0.7% annual increase in August. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, retail sales were down 0.5% and below forecasts that called for a decline of 0.2% following a 0.7% monthly increase in August. Sales among large-scale retailers were down for the sixth consecutive month, easing 3.3% on year. That was lower than expectations of a 2.7% fall following a 2.2% annual decline in the previous month.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, which slumped 15% at midday on news that it plans to issue up to 990 billion yen in common and preferred stock to raise capital, trimmed its losses and ended the session down 5.5%. Aozora Bank, which announced a share buyback of up to 20 billion yen before the market opened, closing up 7.6%. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group sank 13.0% and Mizuho Financial Group gave away 6.6%.
Among auto exporters, Honda Motor soared 14.0% and Toyota Motor jumped 7.8%. After the market closed, Honda said that its second-quarter net profit tumbled 41% and issued a profit warning for the fiscal year due to stonger yen and higher material costs. High-tech exporters also gained after the dollar gained after hitting a 13-year trough on Friday. Sony Corp surged 9.6% and Canon advanced 7.6%. After the markets closed Monday, Canon reported a 26% fall in its quarterly operating profit and slashed its annual outlook.
Seven & I Holdings jumped 14.1% and Kao Corp, Japan's biggest household products maker, gained 8.3%.
In the tech space, Advantest surged 11.0%, Kyocera rose 4.5%, Fujitsu climbed 10.5% and Fanuc soared 17.4%.
Among commodity-related stocks, Inpex Holdings added 0.9% and Nippon Oil surged 11.6%, while trading house Mitsubishi Corp gained 9.1% and Mitsui & Co climbed 4.1%.
CHINA
The Chinese stock market closed higher, reversing early losses, as financials staged a sharp rebound in the afternoon session. A recovery in regional markets also added to the positive investor sentiment. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed up 48.47 points or 2.81% at 1,771.82, bouncing back from a 25-month intra-day low of 1,664.93 in early trade, after the key index lost 12.7% in the previous five trading sessions.
Financials finished higher after early losses. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China jumped 2.7%. The bank said late Friday that third-quarter net profit rose 26% year-over-year to 28.2 billion yuan. Bank of Nanjing surged up 10% and China Merchants Bank climbed 5.8%. The bank said that it would apply for the de-listing of Wing Lung Bank within four months after receiving better than 90% acceptance of its buy-out offer.
China Life Insurance gained 0.8%. The insurer reported a 46.9% drop in third-quarter net profit to 2.34 billion yuan. Ping An Insurance declined 0.4% after its nine-month profit fell to 1.8 billion yuan from 15.39 billion yuan a year earlier. Under Chinese accounting rules, Ping An had a 534 million yuan loss for the January-September period.
Among brokerages, Haitong Securities surged 10% and CITIC Securities advanced 5.3%. In the property sector, China Vanke fell 1.5% after it announced a third-quarter net profit decline of 13.42% year-over-year to 215.49 million yuan. However, Gemdale Corp climbed 2.7%e after it announced a 10% decline in third-quarter net profit to 109.88 million yuan from a year ago. Poly Real Estate Group advanced 5.5%. Poly said that net profit rose 125.4% to 1.27 billion yuan in the nine months to September.
Oil refiners also rebounded. Index heavyweight PetroChina gained 2.1% and China Petroleum & Chemical moved up 2.5%.
Elsewhere:
Taiwan's Taiex closed up 0.8% at 4,399.
Singapore's STI closed up 4.1% at 1,666.
Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index closed down 4.7% at 1,111.
Malaysia's KLCI closed down 26.7 points at 832.
NZX 50 index ended 3.3% lower at 2,687.10 in Wellington.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.4% to 3,794.60.
with files from other wire services
