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Asian stocks ended mostly higher on Monday as positive earnings updates and upbeat economic data from the United States boosted optimism about a solid global economic recovery. <\/p>\n
Chinese shares led regional gains after China’s financial regulator said Huarong Asset Management Co., a distressed-debt manager, had ample liquidity, its first official comments since the company delivered a jolt by missing a deadline to report earnings.<\/p>\n
The benchmark Shanghai Composite index climbed 50.93 points, or 1.49 percent, to 3,477.55, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 136.44 points, or 0.47 percent, to 29,106.15.<\/p>\n
Japanese shares ended on a subdued note as the country faced fourth surge on coronavirus<\/span> cases before the scheduled opening of the Olympic Games. Upbeat exports data failed to ease worries about the fragile recovery of the world’s third-largest economy<\/span>.<\/p>\n The Nikkei average gave up early gains to end little changed at 29,685.37 while the broader Topix index closed 0.22 percent lower at 1,956.56.<\/p>\n Semiconductor company Sumco jumped 5.7 percent after Japan and the United States agreed last week to cooperate on investment in semiconductor supply chains in response to a global shortage of chips.<\/p>\n Toshiba Corp fell 4.4 percent on a Nikkei report that private equity firm CVC Capital Partners will delay submitting a formal proposal to buy the Japanese industrial group.<\/p>\n Australian markets<\/span> ended flat with a positive bias as a long-awaited quarantine-free travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand opened. <\/p>\n Banks rose broadly, with Commonwealth climbing 1 percent. Macquarie Group gained 0.7 percent on a Bloomberg report that it is nearing a deal to take Australian waste management company Bingo Industries Ltd. private.<\/p>\n Miners Fortescue Metals Group and Rio Tinto advanced 1.8 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively. Llithium miners Galaxy Resources and Orocobre surged around 6 percent after they entered into a binding merger implementation deed to form the world’s fifth-largest lithium miner company valued at A$4 billion (S$4.12 billion). <\/p>\n Sims Metal jumped 9 percent after the metal recycler boosted its full-year earnings guidance on strong scrap prices and cost savings. Origin Energy, Oil Search, Santos and Woodside Petroleum lost 1-2 percent after crude oil prices declined on Friday.<\/p>\n Seoul stocks finished marginally higher, extending gains for the sixth day running on expectations of strong corporate earnings in the January-March season. The benchmark Kospi inched up 0.22 points to 3,198.84. Bio stocks led gainers amid concerns over the fourth wave of the pandemic.<\/p>\n New Zealand shares advanced, with the benchmark NZX-50 index rising 83.10 points, or 0.66 percent, to 12,767.83, led by travel-related stocks. Auckland International Airport surged 4.7 percent and Air New Zealand added 1.1 percent.<\/p>\n The service sector in New Zealand swung into expansion territory in March, the latest survey from BusinessNZ revealed today with a Performance of Service Index score of 52.4, up from 49.7 in February.<\/p>\n India’s Sensex was down around 2 percent amid fears that a rapid resurgence of Covid-19 cases in the country could disrupt economic recovery. <\/p>\n U.S. stocks rose on Friday as strong earnings and encouraging housing and consumer sentiment data added to optimism about a global economic recovery. <\/p>\n The Dow rose half a percent and the S&P 500 inched up 0.4 percent to set new record closing highs, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index edged up marginally. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Business News<\/p>\n<\/div>\n