Asian markets ended mixed Friday, with commodity producers fronting gains in Sydney, while Shanghai shares tumbled as investors took profits in a range of stocks that recently have outperformed the benchmark index.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 dropped 4.38 points to finish the week at 9,995.02.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 148.31 points, or 0.7%, however, to 20,286.71
A successful Spanish government bond auction Thursday helped allay concerns over the creditworthiness of Spanish government debt, providing some relief for investors still nervous about the euro-zone debt crisis.
The Australian market was boosted by a rebound in cyclical stocks after the previous day's pullback, with materials, energy and financial shares underpinning gains. BHP Billiton edged up 0.8%, Rio Tinto rose 1.1% and Newcrest Mining advanced 1.7%.
David Jones fell 0.4% on news the company's Chief Executive Mark McInnes had resigned after admitting to behaviour that was "unbecoming of a chief executive to a female staff member" at two company functions.
The Tokyo market ended flat after seesawing, weighed by concerns about the U.S. economic recovery and a stronger yen. On Thursday, U.S. data showed an unexpected rise in weekly jobless claims and a bigger-than-expected drop in the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia's June index of business activity for factory operators.
Toyota Motor Corp. dropped 1.7%, while Honda Motor Co. gave up 1.7% on the stronger yen and lingering worries about strikes in China. Tokyo Electron added 0.5% and Advantest Corp. gained 0.2% on stronger chip manufacturing equipment orders in May.
Nintendo Co. gained 2% on hopes for strong demand for the Nintendo 3DS, which it unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles this week. It is the latest version of the company's portable-game system, which allows users to play 3-D games without wearing special glasses.
Blue-chip Hong Kong developer Henderson Land Development fell 1.1% after the government said Thursday that regulatory and law enforcement units are investigating the cancellation of home sales at a luxury project it launched at 39 Conduit Road. Only four out of the 24 units sold there were completed and the firm is expected to book a loss of 734 million Hong Kong dollars ($94 million U.S.) in the first half of 2010 from the default.
In foreign-exchange markets, the euro was buying $1.2397 U.S. from $1.2388 U.S. late Thursday in New York, and 112.51 yen from 112.72 yen. The dollar was fetching 90.75 yen, compared with 91.00 yen.
CHINA
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Index dumped 46.57 points, or 1.7%, to 2,696.17
Ranking among the big losers in Shanghai, Jaingzhong Pharmaceutical Co. sank 4.1% and Harbin Pharmaceutical Group Co. gave up 5.8% on followup selling after Thursday's sharp declines.
Tsingtao Brewery Co. lost 4.2% and Qingdao Haier Co. shed 2% in Shanghai, while Shenzhen Clou Electronics Co. and Advanced Technology & Materials Co. slumped by the day's 10% limit in Shenzhen. All the above stocks have outperformed the respective benchmark indexes in Shanghai and Shenzhen in the year to date.
Elsewhere;
Singapore’s Straits Times Index moved 10.55 points, or 0.4%, lower to 2,833.40
Korea’s Kospi index gained 4.03 points, or 0.2%, to 1,711.95
Taiwan’s Taiex Index subtracted 22.67 points, or 0.3%, to 7,493.11.
New Zealand’s NZX index tacked on 1.78 points to 3,047.50
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 put on 24.60 points, or 0.5%, to 4,551.90
