After widespread declines to start the week, Asian stock markets bounced back Thursday, led by strong gains in Japan and Hong Kong, as the U.S. offered to renew trade talks with China.
After falling for seven of the past nine sessions, Japan’s Nikkei NIK, +0.81% was up nearly 1% as the index looked to get back to positive territory for 2018. SoftBank 9984, +3.62% was up more than 3%, and export-reliant companies such as Toyota 7203, +1.20% and Honda 7267, +1.22% were up more than 1%.
Hong Kong stocks, down for six straight days, roared back to life, with the Hang Seng Index HSI, +1.42% up 1.6%. Mainland heavyweights including Tencent 0700, +2.66% , China Construction Bank 0939, +2.36% and Ping An 2318, +1.87% were strong while Geely 0175, +3.46% rebounded 4% and beaten-down Macau casinos stocks climbed. But drugmakers remained under pressure on looming price cuts, with Sino Biopharma 2922, -4.40% and CSPC 1093, -4.19% little changed after yesterday’s slumps.
Trade hopes helped Chinese stocks rise, with the Shanghai Composite SHCOMP, +0.17% up 0.4% after three straight declines while the Shenzhen Composite 399106, -0.21% gained 0.2%.
Korea’s Kospi SEU, +0.11% , which came into today’s trading down 7.5% for the year, was up an initial 0.1%, with Samsung 005930, -0.67% down slightly. Taiwan’s Taiex Y9999, -0.03% was about flat, though chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor 2330, -1.73% fell after the unveiling of the new iPhones, which feature advanced A12 Bionic chips it produced with partner Apple Inc. AAPL, -1.24%
Australia’s ASX 200 XJO, -0.55% was one of the few laggards on the day, down 0.4%, along with New Zealand NZ50GR, +0.05% . Benchmarks in Singapore STI, +0.26% , Malaysia FBMKLCI, +0.20% and Indonesia JAKIDX, -0.57% rose.
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