Asia report: Stocks mixed as Chinese property plays surge

Stocks in the Asia-Pacific region were mixed on Thursday, with Hong Kong’s bourse rising again on positive sentiment for property and technology plays.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was up 0.46% at 26,507.87, as the yen strengthened 0.26% on the dollar to last trade at JPY 132.11.

Tech investing giant SoftBank Group slipped 0.24%, while robotics specialist Fanuc was up 1.05% and Uniqlo owner Fast Retailing eked out gains of 0.01%.

The broader Topix index was ahead 0.78% by the end of trading in Tokyo, settling at 1,908.17.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite was down 0.46% at 3,054.43, and the technology-centric Shenzhen Component was off 0.33% at 10,876.31.

South Korea’s Kospi rose 1.19% to 2,356.73, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong jumped 2.71% to 19,679.22.

Property shares were in the green in the special administrative region, as investors cheered comments from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) on Wednesday.

The regulator pledged to support the real estate sector, with more credit support and bond financing proposals.

CIFI Holdings was up 3.64%, Country Garden added 1.13%, Logan Group jumped 7.38%, and Longfor Group was ahead 2.52%.

Fresh economic data out of Korea, meanwhile, showed producer prices rising 6.3% year-on-year, making for the slowest growth since April last year.

On the month, South Korea’s producer price index was down 0.2%, with the fall mainly driven by prices for agricultural products.

The blue-chip technology stocks were in the green in Seoul, with Samsung Electronics up 1.9% and SK Hynix ahead 1.54%.

“The markets seem to be heading into Christmas on a slightly more hopeful note amid signs the US consumer is proving more resilient than feared,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould of the global situation on Thursday morning.

“Fears of recession have been mounting as the Federal Reserve pushes ahead with aggressive action to bring down interest rates.

“Strong gains on Wall Street were repeated across Asia on Thursday and have fed into a strong start for the FTSE 100 - despite downward revisions to UK third quarter GDP data.”

Oil prices were in the green as the region went to bed, with Brent crude futures last up 1.92% on ICE at $83.78 per barrel, while the NYMEX quote for West Texas Intermediate was 1.86% firmer at $79.75.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 managed gains of 0.53% to 7,152.50, while across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 advanced 0.63% to 11,523.96.

The down under dollars were mixed against the greenback, with the Aussie last 0.38% stronger at AUD 1.4854, while the Kiwi weakened 0.08% to last trade at NZD 1.5895.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.