News Corp, which relies on US economic growth to drive advertising sales at its Fox television network and the New York Post newspaper, shed 1.7 percent to A$11.06.
Rio Tinto Group, the world's third-largest miner, shed 0.6 percent to A$28.40. The company, which gets almost 40 percent of its sales in the US, also had a forecast for this year's net profit trimmed 6 percent by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
South Korea
The Kospi climbed 6.42 to 693.25, the highest since Dec. 20.
Kospi 200 futures for September rose 0.7 percent to 89.20, while the underlying index gained 1 percent to 88.59.
Hyundai Motor, South Korea's largest automaker, rallied 4.5 percent to 34,700 won. Kia Motors Corp, the second largest, climbed 4.6 percent to 9,600 won. Ssangyong Motor Co, the fourth largest, surged 12 percent to 7,090 won.
South Korea will revise its sales tax on cars earlier than its plan for next year to boost demand for new vehicles after domestic sales dropped by a 10th in the first half of this year.
"The revision will attract more buyers at home and help raise automakers' total revenue as they are already doing well abroad," said Kang Pyung To, who manages the equivalent of US$211 million at Kyobo Investment Trust Management Co in Seoul.
Kang's holding in Hyundai Motor is more than the stock's 2.7 percent weighting in the Kospi.
Taiwan
Taiwan's TWSE index added 1.1 percent to 5151.85. The benchmark gained 5.6 percent for the week, the biggest advance since the five days ended Nov. 8. July futures on the index rose 1.4 percent to 5191.
"An increasing number of retail investors are now convinced that this is a bull market and have started entering the race," said Simon Chao, whose US$17 million Infrastructure Fund at President Investment Trust Corp has gained 20 percent since the start of the second quarter compared with the benchmark index's 18 percent gain. He expects the index to reach 6,000 this month.
AU Optronics, Taiwan's largest maker of flat-display panels for computers, gained 6.6 percent to NT$27.30. Quanta, Taiwan's largest notebook computer maker, rose 6.5 percent to NT$82.
RSS