Asian stocks ended mixed Thursday as doubts over the U.S. economic recovery hurt Japanese shares, though optimism over China's economy helped push Shanghai-listed shares as well as several Australian miners higher.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index faded 57.25 points, or 0.6%, to 9,696.02
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index ran its winning streak to eight, growing 2.64 points to 21,093.82.
Japanese stocks got dragged lower after Wednesday's strong gains, with Panasonic Corp. slumping 7.7% on word that the company would offer 818.4 billion yen ($9.37 billion U.S.) to buy out shares it doesn't already own in Sanyo Electric Co. and Panasonic Electric Works Co.
The company plans to issue new shares to raise 500 billion yen for the acquisitions. Sanyo surged 26.3% and Panasonic Electric jumped 15.4%.
Another notable decliner in Tokyo, shares of JVC Kenwood tumbled 10.6% after the company reported a quarterly loss.
Hong Kong-listed shares of Agricultural Bank of China fell 0.3% to 3.57 Hong Kong dollars (46 cents U.S.), succumbing to profit-taking despite news the bank had raised an additional HK$12.20 billion from exercising the over-allotment option of its Hong Kong initial public offering.
The stock had already rallied 11.5% in the past six sessions, leading to Thursday's inclusion in the MSCI China index after the market close. AgBank said the over-allotment option of its A-share offering hasn't yet been exercised, which could make the IPO the world's largest ever.
In Sydney, modest weakness in some financials and energy shares, coming in the wake of Wall Street's decline, outweighed gains in resources.
Macquarie Group lost 1.2% and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group slipped 0.2%, while Woodside Petroleum gave up 1%. Among miners, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto added 0.7% each.
SK Telecom gained 0.6% in a weak Seoul market, rising despite missing market expectations with 17% growth in second-quarter net profit.
Instead, investors keyed on the carrier's bullish outlook for the third quarter.
In foreign-exchange markets, the dollar was lower against the Japanese yen and the euro after U.S. Treasury yields slipped Wednesday on data suggesting the recovery in the largest global economy might be stalling.
The euro stood at $1.3069 U.S., compared with $1.2988 U.S. in late New York trading on Wednesday, and at 113.92 yen from 113.54 yen. The dollar was at 87.14 yen, from 87.44 yen.
CHINA
Brokerage shares rose in Shanghai on hopes that the recent rally will stimulate investor interest in local stocks, helping increase brokerages' fee income
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Index gained 14.25 points, or 0.5%, to 2,877.98, on top of its rally Wednesday, which came after nation's central bank said there was little scope for a double-dip in the economy.
Citic Securities traded up 2.4%, while China Merchants Securities added 1.5% and Haitong Securities climbed 3% in Shanghai.
Meanwhile, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China ended flat in Shanghai after saying that it will raise up to 45 billion yuan ($6.6 billion U.S.) from a rights issue in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
The stock rose 1% in Hong Kong as the fundraising plan was well flagged, and as the news removed the overhang of equity dilution.
Elsewhere;
Singapore’s Straits Times Index advanced 12.27 points, or 0.4%, to 2,997.65
Korea’s Kospi index slid 2.59 points, or 0.2%, to 1,770.88
Taiwan’s Taiex Index jumped 36.80 points, or 0.5%, to 7,784.81
New Zealand’s NZX index picked up 14.18 points, or 0.2%, to 3,033.02
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell off 5.80 points, or 0.1%, to 4,524.10
