Asian Shares Rise On Economic Optimism

Asian stocks rose broadly on Thursday amid growing optimism about the state of the economic recovery and earnings improvement.

Chinese shares ended little changed with a negative bias as property developers declined after ratings agency S&P Global delivered fresh downgrades to two of the sector’s bigger firms. Hong Kong market was closed on account of National Day.

Japanese shares rose sharply, led by gains in technology stocks. The Nikkei average climbed 410.65 points, or 1.46 percent, to 28,550.93 while the broader Topix index closed 0.67 percent higher at 1,986.97.

Advantest, Screen Holdings and Tokyo Electron soared 4-5 percent. Shipping firm Nippon Yusen tumbled 3.4 percent on concerns that rising energy prices will squeeze company profits.

Australian markets advanced, driven by gains in the mining and tech sectors. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index rose 39.20 points, or 0.54 percent, to 7,311.70 while the broader All Ordinaries index ended up 48.30 points, or 0.64 percent, at 7,620.20.

Investors shrugged off data that showed Australian employment fell sharply for a second month in September.

Diversified miner South 32 jumped 4.9 percent after it unveiled plans to buy a stake in a Chilean mine that produces copper. Tech stocks followed their U.S. peers higher, with Wisetech Global surging as much as 7.2 percent.

Gold miners Evolution, Newcrest and Norther Star Resources climbed 2-5 percent after bullion prices neared a one-month peak overnight.

Seoul stocks rose for a second straight session Thursday as the Korean won rebounded against the dollar after depreciating sharply against the greenback over the past few sessions.

The benchmark Kospi rallied 44.23 points, or 1.50 percent, to 2,988.64 amid expectations that the U.S. government’s push to relieve supply-chain bottlenecks would help the South Korean exporters.

Export prices in South Korea were up 20.2 percent year-on-year in September, the Bank of Korea said earlier today – accelerating from 18.9 percent in August.

Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix and Naver Corp climbed 1-3 percent while LG Chem jumped as much as 5 percent.

New Zealand shares ended slightly higher, with the benchmark NZX-50 rising 23.31 points, or 0.18 percent, to finish at 13,048.49.

U.S. stocks ended broadly higher overnight after data showed consumer prices rose by slightly more than expected in September and the minutes of the Fed’s September meeting showed central bankers discussed an illustrative tapering path to gradually scale back asset purchases.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.7 percent and the S&P 500 rose 0.3 percent while the Dow ended flat with a negative bias.

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