Asian stocks uniformly rose Thursday, reversing earlier losses, as optimism central bank and government measures will ease financial turmoil overshadowed a record drop in exports.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index raced ahead 150.10 points, or 1.9%, to 8,051.74.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index picked up 74.36 points or 0.6% to 12, 657.99
Sumitomo Realty & Development Co., Japan’s No. 3 developer, jumped 5.4% after the Bank of Japan said it will accept property-related debt as loan collateral. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. surged 6.8% after U.S. President Barack Obama’s Treasury Secretary nominee pledged "dramatic" measures to stabilize the financial system and Credit Suisse Group upgraded Japan’s brokerages.
Honda Motor Co. lost 3.4% after the yen strengthened and Japan’s exports plunged last month.
The Bank of Japan said today it will buy corporate bonds from financial institutions and offer loans in exchange for debt issued by real-estate investment funds in an attempt to unlock credit markets.
Bankruptcies among Japan’s listed companies reached 33 in 2008, the most in the postwar period, according to Tokyo Shoko Research Ltd. Most of those were in the property sector as the credit crisis caused bank lending to dry up.
Nomura Holdings Inc., Japan’s No. 1 brokerage, gained 4.7%. Credit Suisse Group boosted its rating on Japan’s securities industry from "market weight," saying the sector will rebound.
Sony Corp., the world’s second-biggest maker of consumer electronics, lost 2.6% after saying it’s considering stopping production at one of two television factories in Japan to cut costs. The company reversed its full- year forecast to a net loss of 150 billion yen ($1.7 billion) today after markets shut. That will be Sony’s first loss in 14 years.
In Hong Kong, HSBC Holdings Plc, which owns a mortgage business in the U.S., surged 3.6%, snapping an eight-day slump. China Construction Bank Corp., the nation’s second-largest lender, climbed 1.6%. Cnooc Ltd., China’s biggest offshore oil producer, gained 2.3% after its parent company said profit rose by "a big margin" last year. .
Bank of China Ltd., which lost more on mortgage investments than all Chinese banks combined, added 2.1%.
Shandong Weigao Group Medical Polymer Co., China’s biggest medical device manufacturer, jumped 7%. China’s central and local governments will expand health-care spending over three years, according to a statement on the central government’s website.
CHINA
China's economy grew at its slowest pace in seven years in the fourth quarter, as slumping exports put the brakes on the world's fastest-growing major economy.
Gross domestic product expanded 6.8% in the October-to-December period, compared to a year ago, easing from a 9% expansion in the preceding three-month period, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics Thursday.
The result was in line with a median estimate for a 6.9% expansion of 13 economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires.
Elsewhere:
Shanghai Composite Index gained 22.84 points or 1.1% to 2,044.55
Taiwan's Taiex index’s gain was a slighter 5.36 points or 0.1% to 4,247.97
Singapore's Straits Times Index was up 4.25 points, or 0.25%, to 1,708.77
Korea's Kospi Composite surged 28 points, or 1.2%, to 2,343.97
New Zealand's NZX-50 was 29.37 points to the good or 1.1% to 2,734.41
Australia's All Ordinaries index closed up 44 points or 1.3% to 3,486.80
