Asian shares ended slightly higher Friday after Italian bond yields cooled from recent levels and Harvard-educated former European Commissioner Mario Monti was widely tipped as the next successor to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
The Nikkei ended 0.2% higher. The Shanghai Composite was marginally up 0.1% while the Hang Seng rose 0.9%. The Sensex declined 1% after a day's holiday while in Sydney, the S&P/ASX All Ordinaries closed with gains of 1.2%.
In Greece too, a respected economist and a former European Central Bank vice-president, Lucas Papademos, was installed as the head of an interim government, giving investors some comfort over the region’s debt crisis.
Stocks on the Move
Olympus and another scandal-hit firm Daio Paper Corp. were placed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's supervisory list yesterday, a step towards a possible delisting after they failed to report earnings within stipulated time frames.
Olympus was down 5% while Daio plunged 18.8%.
Fast Retailing ended flat after paring gains on reports it plans to increase the number of outlets in South Korea from 64 currently to 300 by 2021.
However, financials remained weak in Tokyo with Nomura down 1.6% while smaller rival Daiwa Securities gave up 0.8%.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial was down 0.3% while Sumitomo Mitsui and Mizuho lost 0.4% and 1% each, respectively.
Weakness in tech shares also limited gains
Exporters like Sony were up 2.4%, while Canon and Sharp Corp. gained 2.1% and 1.9% each, respectively.
In Hong Kong, banks and resources ended higher. Bank of Communications gained 2.7% while index heavyweight ICBC was up 2.3%. HSBC was also 0.2% higher after trading down on disappointing results on Wednesday.
In resources, Jiangxi Copper was up 1.6% and Aluminum Corp. of China gained 2.7%. CNOOC climbed 3.2% while PetroChina was up 2.2%.
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, climbed 3.2% after it confirmed news it is buying a 30% stake in the Brazilian unit of Portuguese oil company Galp Energia SA for $3.5 billion.
The Sensex bucked the regional trend with most stocks ending in negative territory. ICICI Bank and Hindalco led losses, down 4.6% and 4.3% each, respectively.
Tata Steel, the world’s No.7 steelmaker, fell 4.2% after the company missed forecasts as quarterly net profit slumped 89%. Tata Steel also warned of weak demand for the next few quarters.
SBI, L&T, Jaiprakash, HDFC Bank, DLF, Sterlite and Jindal Steel were all down in a range between 2.1% and 3.5%.
DLF shares were affected by a 11% fall in earnings.
Aussie shares ended stronger on offshore leads with the four big banks leading the markets higher. CBA, ANZ, WBC and NAB were all up in a range between 0.2% and 1.6%.
In resources, the two big miners, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were up 0.9% and 0.8% each, respectively. Fortescue jumped 2.8%.
Extract Resources ended flat after its main shareholder announced it was still in takeover discussions with a Chinese uranium company.
