Asian stock markets ended mixed Tuesday, with overnight gains on Wall Street and higher oil prices setting the stage for an advance in Japan and Australia.
Japan's Nikkei 225 index regained 174.97 points, or 1.8%, to finish the first half of 2009 at 9,958.40. The Tokyo market failed to stay above the psychologically-important 10,000-point level that it briefly crossed during the session, on caution ahead of the Bank of Japan's tankan business sentiment survey due Wednesday.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index slid 149.78 points, or 0.8% to 18,378.33.
But Chinese stocks retreated as investors locked in profits on the last trading session of a robust half-year, with some anticipating a pullback in days ahead after hefty gains over the past three months.
Earlier in the day, data in Japan showed that all-household spending in May rose 0.3% year-to-year, up for the first time in 15 months, and beating expectations for a 1.2% decline. But that was tempered by the release of May jobless data, which rose to 5.2%, the highest since September 2003, from 5.0% in April.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced, with retailers rising on an improved profit guidance from David Jones, which surged 10.2%. Shares of Woolworths edged up 2.7%.
Energy shares were broadly higher as August crude-oil futures extended their gains overnight following news of militant attacks on Royal Dutch Shell's oil facility in Nigeria.
Shares of Inpex Corp. climbed 5% in Tokyo, while in Sydney, BHP Billiton rose 2.4% and Woodside Petroleum advanced 1.6%.
Shares of energy producer Cnooc fell 0.7% in Hong Kong, in line with the broad market. But refiner China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, climbed 3.3% after China allowed an increase in motor fuel prices.
Japanese steel and real-estate stocks were also higher, with Nippon Steel up 3.6% while Mitsui Fudosan gained 2.8%.
In New Zealand, shares of Pumpkin Patch jumped 10.4% after the company said it was shutting several stores in the U.S. in an effort to cut costs. Telecom Corp. of New Zealand however, slipped 0.4% after the Commerce Commission said in its preliminary view that mobile termination prices - wholesale charges for terminating calls or texts from other fixed or mobile networks - should be regulated.
In currency trading, the euro was at $1.4091 U.S., from $1.4077 U.S. late in New York, and at 134.63 yen, from 135.22 yen. The U.S. dollar was at 95.51 yen, down from 96.04 yen. Traders said further falls were likely to be limited as players were unwilling to make big bets against the U.S. dollar ahead of the U.S. June nonfarm payrolls on Thursday.
Spot gold was at $940.80 U.S. a troy ounce, up $3.50 from New York, aided by stronger oil prices.
Elsewhere:
China’s Shanghai Composite Index gave back 13.50 points, or 0.4% to 3,166.47
Singapore’s Straits Times Index perked 15.97 points, or 0.7%, to 2,333.14
South Korea’s Kospi index inched upward 1.62 points, or 0.1%, to 1,390.07
Taiwan’s Taiex gained 41.01 points, or 0.6%, to 6,432.16
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index tacked on 20.99 points, or 0.8%, to 2,796.11
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 68 points, or 1.8%, to 3,954.90
