MW: Tokyo, Hong Kong in cautious advance, BHP rises
By Chris Oliver, MarketWatch
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Asian stocks were higher Wednesday, with the financial sector advancing after losses in the previous two sessions, while shares of BHP Billiton climbed in Sydney in an otherwise-mixed session for the commodity sector.
Australian stocks shook off earlier jitters to advance after data released Wednesday showed the economy grew at its slowest pace in eight years during the third quarter.
Brokers were expecting quieter trading throughout the remainder of December as hedge funds and other institutional investors move to the sidelines, closing out positions ahead of the calendar year end.
"The risk for them is that if they on par with their competitors and they put on a trade now that goes wrong, then their performance for the year is going to look despicable," said Andrew Sullivan, a sales trader with MainFirst Securities in Hong Kong. "One of my funds told me this morning they've effectively closed their book for the year."
The U.S. dollar gained slightly against the Japanese yen, extending a modest advance in New York Tuesday. The greenback was quoted at 93.28 at mid-morning in Tokyo, up from its level of 93.14 in New York, and up from 93.05 there late Monday.
Qantas Airways shares climbed 6.2% after the Australian carrier confirmed it was in merger talks with British Airways.
BHP Billiton climbed 3.3% after news the miner will commit $245 million to the redevelopment of the Cossack oil project headed by Woodside Petroleum in northwest Australia.
Honda Motor Co.'s ) shares were down sharply after the Nikkei newspaper reported Wednesday the automaker plans to scale back its overseas expansion plans, including freezing a capacity-expansion project in Turkey and delaying the start up of its second factory in India by one year or longer. Shares of Honda fell 5.6%
Regional investors were somewhat heartened by a stronger session for U.S. stocks Tuesday, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 270 points, or 3.3%, to end at 8,419. Gains were driven in part by a rally in General Motors shares after the automaker, along with its two smaller rivals, detailed their restructuring plans in hopes of gaining access to at least $25 billion in loans.
Among regional indexes, Japan's Nikkei 225 Index climbed 1.2% in the afternoon session at 7,955.98 and China's Shanghai Composite was up1.7% at 1,921.59.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 1.9% at 13,653.92. The city's China Enterprises Index, a benchmark of locally-listed China shares, was up 2.9%.
Sinopec , China's largest refiner, saw its shares up 1.7%, after crude oil prices fell overnight. The refiner, subject to state-regulations on what it can charge at the pump, enjoys higher margins when crude prices decline.
In other action, South Korea's Kospi index traded little changed at 1,023.28, Taiwan's Taiex slipped 1.1%, and Singapore's Straits Times index added 1.2%
Thai shares rallied as antigovernment protesters prepared to decamp after a week-long siege of the nation's main international airport following Tuesday's court ruling that disbanded the ruling government for electoral fraud. Bangkok's SET was up 3% at 398.41.
The Australian S&P/ASX 200 climbed 1.3% to 3,573.50. Data released by the Bureau of Statistics Wednesday showed dross domestic product expanded 0.1% in the third quarter from the second, falling short of an expected 0.2% expansion. On annualized basis the economy expanded 1.9% during the quarter, showing the economy remains on track for annual expansion this year, although well short of its long-term average growth of 3%.
Elsewhere, New Zealand's NZSX-50 rose 2.3%, Indonesia's JSX Composite rose 1%, and Malaysia's KLSE was up 0.4%.
Shares of Japanese steelmakers were also weaker after the Nikkei reported late Tuesday that some industry leaders are considering temporarily shutting down blast furnaces as early as this month because of slack demand.
JFE Holdings , which is mulling shutdowns at some of its seven blast furnaces in western Japan, saw its shares ease 0.2%, while Kobe Steel , reportedly considering idling one blast furnace, fell 1.3%.
On the energy markets, January light sweet crude oil futures were up as much as 67 cents to $47.63 a barrel. The front-month contract ended at its lowest level since May 20, 2005 in Nymex trading Tuesday, falling $2.32 to $46.96 a barrel.
Among standouts in the financial sector, National Australia Bank's shares were up 1.9%. Hong Kong-listed shares of HSBC Holdings rose 2%, recouping some of their more than 6% loss Tuesday.
Shares of Toyota Motor Corp. were down 1.8%, while Nissan Motors were down 1.3%. The automakers reported Tuesday that vehicle sales in the U.S. fell 31% in November from a year earlier.
Among other shares of note in Tokyo, Hitachi Ltd. climbed 2.7% after the firm said Tuesday it will jointly develop solid-state memory drives with Intel. The new technology is reportedly considered an alternative to hard disk drives.
Fast Retailing stood out among the retail sector, its shares untraded amid an overwhelming number of buy orders after the operator of the Uniqlo apparel chain reported same-store sales in November rose more than 32% from a year earlier.
In other New York action Tuesday, the Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 32 points, or 4%, to 848 while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 51 points, or 3.7%, to 1,449.
