Asian markets ended higher Wednesday after a late-session recovery on Wall Street helped whet appetite for stocks, with shipping and resource companies leading the charge on upbeat freight rates and a rebound in commodity prices.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 62.77 points, or 0.7%, to 9.522.66
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index moved up 210.95 points, or 1.1%, to 19.196.45
South Korean stocks overcame choppy trading to end higher after a steep fall in the previous session, though the Korean won declined a bit further amid worries about continuing tensions on the Korean peninsula.
South Korean shares bounced in and out of positive territory as foreign investors continued selling amid persisting concerns over tensions with North Korea and a weakening Korean won.
North Korea said Tuesday it will "totally freeze" relations with South Korea and pull out of a nonaggression pact with Seoul, marking the widest rift between the Koreas in two decades.
Technology, automobile and insurance shares rebounded from recent losses in Seoul, with Hynix Semiconductor climbing 3.8%, Kia Motors soaring 8.2% and Korea Life Insurance rising 3.7%.
Shipping stocks rose across the region after a sharp jump Tuesday in the Baltic Dry Index, a measure of marine freight rates. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines rose 5% in Tokyo, STX Pan Ocean surged 8.5% and Korea Line added 5.4% in Seoul; China Cosco Holdings advanced 3.7% in Hong Kong and 1.9% in Shanghai, while Neptune Orient Lines climbed 2.3% in Singapore.
Resource sector shares also bounced on a recovery in commodity prices, with BHP Billiton climbing 2.7% and Rio Tinto jumping 3.7% in Sydney, PetroChina climbing 3.1% and Aluminum Corp. of China rising 2.7% in Hong Kong. Commodities traders Mitsubishi Corp. climbed 3.1% and Mitsui added 3.7% in Tokyo.
JFE Holdings rose 0.5% after the Nikkei reported that the company will spend about 700 billion yen ($7.76 billion U.S.) over the next two years to expand operations in emerging nations, taking stakes in businesses that supply local markets.
Despite the gains in Australian miners, some traders said continuing extreme volatility isn't doing much for investor sentiment.
Foster's Group surged 7.4% in heavy trading after outlining plans to separate its beer operations from its underperforming wine operations, with separate listings for the two arms.
Paint maker Wattyl jumped 40% to 1.17 Australian dollars (96.4 U.S. cents) after saying it has received an A$110.4 million takeover offer from an offshore company it didn't name. Wattyl said the indicative, nonbinding takeover proposal was pitched at 1.30 Australian dollars a share.
In foreign-exchange markets, the euro was at $1.2335 against the dollar compared with $1.2328 in New York trade late Tuesday and at 111.35 yen compared with 110.98 yen. The dollar was at 90.32 yen, compared with 90.05 yen. The dollar was also buying 1,251.30 Korean won, up from 1,246.33 won Tuesday.
CHINA
Chinese stocks basically held firm amid growing optimism that Beijing will go slow on future policy tightening measures amid economic uncertainties in Europe.
Shanghai’s CSI 300 was utterly flat at 2,813.94
Among actively traded stocks, Ping An Insurance climbed 0.4%, China Southern Airlines climbed 1.9% and China Vanke gained 0.5%.
Elsewhere;
Singapore’s Straits Times Index moved ahead 45.41 points, or 1.7%, to 2,696.02
Korea’s Kospi index jumped 21.29 points, or 1.4%, to 1,582.12
Taiwan’s Taiex index progressed 80.98 points, or 1.1%, to 7,167.35
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index tacked on 7.36 points, or 0.3%, to 3,011.19
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained back 41.90 points, or 1%, to 4,307.20
