Asian markets edged higher Friday, with Hong Kong and Seoul stocks extending gains as bargain buyers scooped up banking and property counters on hopes of a year-end rally, while Mumbai shares rose in a volatile session as trading resumed for the first time since Wednesday's deadly terrorist attack on the city.
The benchmark Nikkei index gained 138.9 points or 1.2% to 8,512.3 while the benchmark Hang Seng Index closed up 336.2 points or 2.5% at 13,888.2.
On the economic front, data released by the government for October showed that the unemployment rate fell to 3.7% from 4.0% in September, but the industrial production fell by a more-than-expected 3.1% from the previous month and household spending decreased 3.8% year-over-year compared to analysts' expectation for a 3.3% decline. Retail sales dropped 0.6% on month, while Japan's core CPI rose 1.9% from a year ago.
Shippers, trading houses and construction machinery companies extended their gains made a day earlier after China slashed interest rates by over 100 basis points on Wednesday to prop up growth, while negative sentiment generated by weak output data and the downward revision of forecast by Panasonic put a cap on the gains.
Panasonic plunged 10.9% after the company slashed its profit forecast for the current business year due to economic slump. However, Kyocera surged 17.3%, the most in more than three decades, on a plan to buy back up to 8 million shares or 4.22% of its total outstanding stock.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group edged up 0.6%, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group added 2.1%, and Mizuho Financial Group advanced 0.7%.
Exporters were mixed, with Toyota Motor rising 1.7%, Komatsu jumping 6.9%, Canon losing 2.4%, and Sony declining 1.6%.
Trading houses rose on hopes that a better Chinese economy would boost commodities demand. Mitsui & Co jumped 8.3%, Itochu Corp gained 9.0%, and Marubeni Corp rose 7.7%. Oil and gas miner Inpex Holdings advanced 6.8%, Sumitomo Metal Mining soared 10.5%, and Nippon Mining Holdings rose 8.9%.
Shipper Nippon Yusen climbed 5.3%, Kawasaki Kisen advanced 5.2%, and Mitsui OSK lines moved up 6.1%.
CHINA
The Chinese stock market retreated on renewed concern that a slowing economy will hurt earnings. Stocks fell despite the government's announcement of the biggest interest-rate cut in 11 years on Wednesday to support the stimulus plan. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed down 46.70 points or 2.44% at 1,871.2 after hitting a high of 1,915.3 and a low of 1,856.3. Decliners outnumbered gainers by 551 to 237, while 65 were unchanged. Aggregated turnover on the two bourses was RMB 74.763 billion.
The key index ended November up 142.4 points, or 8.2%, on gains from the announcement of a $586 billion package earlier this month to revive slowing economic growth through spending on construction. Cement, steel and construction stocks recorded the strongest gains.
Banks and property developers led the decliners. China Merchants Bank plunged 5.3% and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China shed 3.0%. Property developer China Vanke lost 2.7%, while Gemdale and COFCO Property dropped 4.7% each.
Market heavy weight PetroChina declined 2.1% and oil refiner Sinopec slid 0.6%. Elsewhere in the financial sector, China Life Insurance tumbled 7.4% and its smaller rival Ping An Insurance plummeted 5.9%, while brokerage CITIC Securities lost 3.3% and Haitong Securities sank 7.7%.
Elsewhere:
Taiwan's Taiex closed up 0.15% at 4,460.
Singapore's STI closed up 1.3% at 1,732.
Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index closed up 3.3% at 1,241.
Malaysia's KLCI closed down 3.8 points at 866.
India's Sensex closed up 0.7% at 9,092.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped 4.3% to 3,742.50.
New Zealand's NZX 50 index climbed 1.6% to 2,710.96.
with files from other wire services
