HONG KONG, July 17: Asian stocks closed mixed with an upward bias on Tuesday as bargain hunters emerged in the wake of recent selling and another record close on Wall Street overnight.
However, gains were less than convincing with investors wondering if another surge was possible given the extent of last week's rally which delivered most benchmarks to record or multi-year highs.
That rally had resulted in a mild sell-off in the lead-up to the day's trade where bargains hunters returned and pushed Taipei up 0.98 per cent, Jakarta by 0.66 per cent, Hong Kong rose 0.45 per cent and Wellington gained 0.43 per cent.
Shanghai stood out with a 1.94 per cent advance after regulators doubled the limits on stock market investments allowed by insurers.
Sydney, Singapore and Bangkok all closed little changed while Tokyo eased 0.12 per cent, Kuala Lumpur shed 0.29 per cent, Mumbai was 0.14 per cent lower, and Manila fell 0.63 per cent.
Seoul was closed for a public holiday.
TOKYO: Share prices closed slightly lower on jitters about the cost of a major earthquake that struck over the long holiday weekend as well as upcoming corporate results.
Dealers said insurers were under pressure as the market waited for clearer information on the damage inflicted by Monday's powerful tremor on factories in the affected area northwest of Tokyo.
The Nikkei-225 index dropped 21.68 points to 18,217.27. Turnover rose to 2.05 billion shares from 2.02 billion on Friday.
Investors were jittery following a strong earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale which struck central Japan on Monday, killing at least nine people, causing a leak at a nuclear plant and damage to some factories.
Many production facilities in the affected area remained idle Tuesday as interruptions to power supplies and telecommunications hampered efforts to assess the full extent of the damage.
HONG KONG: Share prices closed 0.45 per cent higher as select blue chips and China financials attracted rotational interest, helping the key index regain the 23,000 points level.
Dealers said worries over possible new tightening measures in China and prospects of volatility on mainland bourses prompted some investors to shift funds out of China and into Hong Kong.
They added that China worries have resurfaced as mainland authorities prepare to release second-quarter economic growth and June inflation figures this week.
The Hang Seng Index closed up 103.36 points at 23,057.30. Turnover was 78.03 billion Hong Kong dollars (10 billion US).
SYDNEY: Share prices closed flat amid a lack of fresh leads, with some gains in the major banks and falls in many mining stocks.
Dealers said that after recent sustained gains, investors were content to wait for the upcoming results season, taking some profits as the excitement in the mining sector died down after Rio Tinto's bid for Canada's Alcan.
The S&P/ASX 200 inched up 0.8 points at 6,381.6. Volume was 1.64 billion shares worth 5.58 billion dollars (4.88 billion US).
You are seeing a bit of money coming out of there, she said, referring to falls in mining stocks such as Alumina and Oxiana.
Rio Tinto finished 40 cents higher at 97.50 dollars while BHP Billiton ended one cent lower at 38.19 dollars.
SINGAPORE: Share prices closed flat as lacklustre exports in June weighed down sentiment.
The Straits Times Index fell 2.18 points to 3,651.05. Volume traded totalled 6.4 billion shares worth 3.04 billion Singapore dollars (2.01 billion US).
KUALA LUMPUR: Share prices closed 0.29 per cent lower as profit-taking continued.
Dealers said gains in construction and consumer stocks helped to limit losses.
The composite index closed down 4.03 points at 1,377.48 on turnover of 1.24 billion shares, valued at 2.14 billion ringgit (611 million US dollars).
JAKARTA: Share prices closed 0.66 per cent higher on a technical rebound in selected big caps led by Astra International, Bank Mandiri and Perusahaan Gas Negara.
The NZX-50 index rose 18.48 points to 4,258.84 on turnover worth
WELLINGTON: Share prices closed 0.43 per cent higher as major 150.7 million dollars (119 million US).
Despite the gains, concerns about the continuing strength of the local currency and the prospect of higher interest rates continued to drag on sentiment.
Telecom was up seven cents at 4.74 dollars.
MUMBAI: Share prices closed down 0.14 per cent in choppy trade after hitting a new intraday record high before investors moved to locked-in gains.
Dealers said software stocks rose after India's largest software exporter TCS reported three months to June net profit rose 36 per cent to 12.03 billion rupees (481 million dollars) despite sharp gains in the rupee this year.—AFP