The Hang Seng index added 0.9% to 20,460.86, the Shanghai Composite index was 0.1% higher at 3,205.95, the Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.6% to 38,950.18, Kospi slid 0.2% to 2,606.23 and the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.6% to 8,337.60
Shares mostly gained in Asia on Thursday after U.S. stocks rose following better-than-expected profit reports from Morgan Stanley, United Airlines and other big companies.
Chinese markets advanced after officials in Beijing announced the government was expanding financing for housing projects to try to turn around a slump in the property market triggered by a clampdown on excessive borrowing by developers.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index added 0.9% to 20,460.86, while the Shanghai Composite index was 0.1% higher at 3,205.95.
China is due to announce its economic growth data for the April-September quarter on Friday. Economists are forecasting annual growth at around 4.5%, short of the government’s target of around 5%.
China’s leaders have promised more measures to help boost the economy, but so far have not provided details of stimulus on a scale that would satisfy investors hoping to see reforms that might address longer term problems like massive local debt and weak consumer demand.
Plans announced so far amount to a “bailout” aimed at nurturing a gradual recovery instead of a “V” shaped short-term rebound in prices, ANZ Research economists said in a report.
Without announcing a major shift in housing policy stance, the policy measure will not induce massive investment demand in real estate, the report added. But it added that “The package of credit injection is an effective measure to reduce the financial risks and liquidity crunch faced by the developers and the related supply chains, fending off a subprime crisis in China.”
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index slipped 0.6% to 38,950.18 after the government reported Japan’s exports declined 1.7% from a year earlier in September, widening the country’s trade deficit.
South Korea’s Kospi slid 0.2% to 2,606.23 and in Australia the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.6% to 8,337.60.
Taiwan’s Taiex added 0.3% and India’s Sensex was 0.3% lower. In Thailand, the SET added 0.7% a day after the central bank cut its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point, to 2.25%.