Modupe Gbadeyanka
By Investors Hub
Asian stocks closed broadly higher on Thursday as oil held steady, the yen weakened and investors looked ahead to the U.S. House vote on a sweeping tax reform bill later today.
China’s Shanghai Composite index edged down 0.1 percent to close at 3,399.25, while the CSI300 index rose as much as 0.77 percent to 4,105.01, snapping a two-day losing streak. Hong Kong’s Hang’s Hang Seng index was up 0.74 percent at 29,064 in late trade.
Japanese shares rose sharply to snap a six-day losing streak as a weakening yen helped offset weak overnight cues from Wall Street. The Nikkei average climbed 322.80 points or 1.47 percent to 22,351.12, while the broader Topix index closed 1 percent higher at 1,761.71. Japan Steel Works, Chugai Pharma, Shiseido, Nippon Paper Industries and Nippon Sheet Glass were among the top gainers.
Australian shares erased early losses to end modestly higher after Santos said it rejected an unsolicited, “inadequate” August offer from U.S. investment vehicle Harbour Energy. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rose 9.30 points or 0.16 percent to 5,943.50 while the broader All Ordinaries index ended up 11.20 points or 0.19 percent at 6,023.50.
Santos jumped 13 percent to its highest level in 14 months while Oil Search rose 1.3 percent and Beach Energy rallied 3.3 percent. Miners ended narrowly mixed after base metals prices slid sharply on Wednesday on concerns about slowing Chinese growth. Newspaper publisher Fairfax Media slumped 31 percent after the spin-out of its online real estate business Domain Holdings Australia.
On the economic front, official data showed that the Australia’s jobless rale fell to a four-and-a-half-year low of 5.4 percent in October versus expectations of it holding steady at 5.5 percent.
South Kora’s Kospi average jumped 0.67 percent to finish at 2,538.28 as trading resumed an hour later because of national exam.
New Zealand shares eked out modest gains, led higher by Kathmandu Holdings, A2 Milk, Synlait and Z Energy. The benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index rose 34.76 points or 0.43 percent to 8,034.70.
Consumer confidence in New Zealand took a hit in November, the latest survey from ANZ Bank revealed today. The bank’s consumer confidence index fell 2.1 percent sequentially to a score of 123.7.
India’s Sensex was rising 0.8 percent and Indonesia’s Jakarta Composite index was rallying 1.1 percent while Singapore’s Straits Times index was down about half a percent. Benchmark indexes in Malaysia and Taiwan were marginally lower.
