Asian markets were split on either side of breakeven Tuesday, with Japanese stocks pacing gains as exporters such as Toyota Motor Co. were spurred by the yen's weakness, while Australian shares cut losses after the central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by 0.75 percentage point to 5.25%.
The benchmark Nikkei Stock Average closed up 537.6 points or 6.3% at a two-week high of 9,114.6 while the benchmark Hang Seng Index aded 40 points or 0.28% to close at 14,384.3.
On the economic front, total cash earnings in Japan inched higher by 0.1% on year in September, slightly lower than analysts' expectation for a 0.2% annual increase, but remained flat compared to August. Contractual cash earnings rose 0.1%, while scheduled earnings climbed 0.4%, while non-scheduled earnings fell 3.3%. Cash earnings for the third quarter were also up 0.1% on year following a 0.7% annual expansion in the second quarter.
Meanwhile, the Japan Automobile Dealers' Association said that Japan's auto sales continued to decline for the third straight month in October as unfavorable and uncertain economic conditions reduced purchasing power. Auto sales dropped by a sharp 13.1% year-over-year in October, compared to a 5.3% fall recorded in September. With the fall in October, vehicle sales slipped for the third consecutive month. In August, vehicle sales had fallen 14.9%.
Stocks gained across the board. Among exporters, Toyota Motor climbed 3.2%, Hitachi surged 7.3%, and Sony jumped 6.5%. Panasonic gained 6.8% and Sanyo soared 34.5% following reports of a possible takeover of Sanyo by Panasonic. Nissan sank 11.0% after the automaker cut its dividend and profit target.
Toyota said that its U.S. auto sales slid 23% year-over-year in October, while Nissan reported a 33% fall sales and Honda recorded a 28% drop in sales. Nissan also more than halved its profit outlook for the full year
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group rose 4.9%, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group advanced 7.9%, and Mizuho Financial Group moved up 7.1%. Resona Holdings jumped 10.0% Orix Corp., Japan's biggest non-bank financial company, surged 7.0%.
Among commodity-related stocks, Inpex Holdings rose 4.3%, Nippon mining Holdings gained 5.9% and Nippon Oil soared 9.2%. Trading house Mitsubishi Corp edged up 0.2%, but Mitsui & Co slipped 0.1%.
CHINA
The Chinese stock market closed lower for the third consecutive trading session. Worries about an economic slowdown weighed on investor sentiment. Metals stocks slid on news of output cuts due to slowing demand. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 13.01 points or 0.76% to close 26-month low of 1,706.70.
On the economic front, the output value of China's construction industry in the first nine months of this year totaled 3.76 trillion yuan, up 22.9% from that for the same period of last year, according to statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics.
Elsewhere:
Taiwan's Taiex closed flat at 4,992.
Singapore's STI closed down 2.9% at 1,829.
Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index closed up 1.3% at 1,369.
Malaysia's KLCI closed up 6.2 points at 905.
South Korea's Kospi rose 2.2% to 1,153.35.
New Zealand's NZX 50 index slipped 0.4% to 2,844.31.
The S&P/ASX 200, which fell more than 2% earlier in the day, ended the day 0.2% lower at 4,215.10 in Sydney.
with files from other wire services
