Asian stocks closed mostly higher on Friday, mirroring Wall Street's stronger performance with higher crude prices adding extra gloss to markets exposed to oil exporters, dealers said.
A poor performance by electronic stocks in Japan was offset by solid economic data which pushed Tokyo higher while stronger base-metal prices lifted Australia to another record high.
India also broke new ground after reopening following its closure due to Mumbai's floods which left nearly 900 people dead and dealers in Seoul are hoping their bourse will break a 16-year trading range.
Dealers said investor attention was divided, with one eye firmly focused on the raft of corporate earnings results currently being released, and the other on a slew of economic data due out of the US later on Friday and next week.
Taiwanese share prices closed 1.00 percent lower, with investors opting to cash out on a mounting note of caution ahead of the release of corporate results for the second quarter.
Dealers said that with the market having run up through strong resistance at 6,400 points, heavy profit-taking has now set in, leaving Taipei to buck the strong regional advance seen in the past few weeks.
"Profit-taking gathered momentum towards the close," said Daniel Tseng (
"People are getting more cautious as companies are due to report their second-quarter and first-half earnings by the end of August," he said.
The TAIEX closed down 63.66 points at 6,311.98 on turnover of NT$127.81 billion (US$3.40 billion).
Tokyo share prices closed 0.35 percent higher as the market brushed off a weak showing by electronics stocks to focus on Wall Street gains and upbeat domestic economic indicators, dealers said.
Dealers said the market was heartened by Wall Street, where the tech-heavy NASDAQ index hit a four-year high on a raft of positive US corporate earnings.
That came despite weak results in Japan, where electronics led by global icon Sony announced Thursday that they tumbled into the red for the three months to June due to falling product prices.
At the same time, Japan also announced early on Friday that its unemployment rate had fallen to a near seven-year low, raising hopes consumer spending will pick up further and provide the drive for the economy as exports slow.
"Overall, the economic indicators showed domestic demand has increased and this will offset sluggish exports and slow inventory adjustment in the IT sector," said Takahide Kiuchi, a senior economist at Nomura Research Institute.
The NIKKEI-225 index gained 41.29 points to 11,899.60.
Seoul share prices closed up 0.59 percent, extending recent strong run-ups to record a new year high, buoyed by sustained foreign investor interest in IT stocks and financials.
Dealers said a strong boost to broad sentiment came from Wall Street's overnight rally and a report by the Bank of Korea that the nation's current account surplus surged last month on robust exports.
The KOSPI index closed up 6.57 points at 1,111.29.
Hong Kong share prices closed 0.46 percent higher following Wall Street's gains overnight on a batch of positive earnings reports and upbeat sentiment on the US economy.
The Hang Seng Index closed up 67.66 points at 14,880.98.
Shanghai share prices closed 0.33 percent lower on further modest profit-taking in the absence of fresh leads, with auto firms and petrochemical producers losing ground after recent gains.
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