Shares in Tokyo gained in value on Friday in spite of an 8.1 per cent decline in November’s industrial output. The FTSE Asia Pacific index was 0.7 per cent higher at 163.9 although volumes were low as some markets, such as Hong Kong and Australia, were closed for the Boxing Day holiday.
Oil climbed above $36 a barrel in Asian trading. Nymex light sweet crude was $36.63 – meaning it has lost three-quarters of its value since peaking at $147.27 in July.
The Nikkei 225 average closed at the day’s high of 8,739.52, a 1.6 per cent gain, and the broader Topix index ended 1.3 per cent higher at 846.58. The yen was steady at Y90.49 to the dollar.
News of share buybacks helped the mood. Nitto Boseki shares closed 17.3 per cent higher at Y149 after the textile maker said it would buy 17 per cent of its shares. Takeda Pharmaceutical rose by 1.6 per cent after saying it would cancel treasury shares that represented 3.1 per cent of those outstanding. However, Takeda shares closed 0.4 per cent lower at Y4,530.
Fast Retailing, which runs the budget clothing chain Uniqlo, led the Nikkei’s rally by gaining 3.2 per cent to Y13,210. The shop owner has been one of Japan’s better performers as the country entered recession. Fast Retailing shares are nearly two-thirds higher than they were at the start of 2008.
Toyota Motor, which this week predicted its first loss in seven decades, rose by 1.9 per cent to Y2,900 on bargain hunting. Investors shrugged off a report that Toyota would recall 121,930 cars in China to fix a steering-related problem.
Japan Airlines fell as much as 0.5 per cent after saying it might reduce capital spending by a quarter over the next three years as demand for international flights fell. However, the carrier benefited from the broader rally and closed 1 per cent higher at Y211.
Taiwan shares were up on talk of mergers and acquisitions in the display industry. The Taiex rose as much as 1.2 per cent before closing with a gain of 0.3 per cent at 4,425.08.
Two makers of LCD displays, AU Optronics and Chi Mei Optoelectronics, gained after a newspaper report on Thursday, citing unnamed government officials, said the companies should merge.
AU closed 2.5 per cent higher at T$22.55 and Chi Mei climbed 3.0 per cent to T$10.30.
Formosa Plastics, a maker of polyvinyl chloride or PVC, led the Taiex’s rally. It closed 3.4 per cent higher at T$43.15. On Thursday, Formosa said it had sold T$403m of its corporate bonds to the chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, whose shares rose by 0.7 per cent to T$43.40 on Friday.
South Korean shares started the day with a 0.5 per cent rally but the Kospi in Seoul closed 0.9 per cent lower at 1,117.86. A local research institute’s regular survey of exporters’ optimism about prospects in the next quarter dropped to its lowest since it started six years ago.
Hyundai Corp, the trading company at the heart of the Hyundai group, jumped 15 per cent to Won14,950 after shareholders said they would sell the company next year.
Hynix Semiconductor rose by 5.4 per cent to Won7,080 after saying it would delay some investments which prompted speculation that a glut of memory chips might be easing.
Shares in mainland China closed almost unchanged. On the mainland, the Shanghai composite index closed at 1,851.52 after earlier rising as much as 0.9 per cent and falling as much as 0.7 per cent on very low volume.
