Market Update
Shares in Asia ended mostly higher, led by Japan, which shrugged off a weak opening following an earthquake overnight, to log a strong gain toward the end of trade.
At close, Japan's Nikkei surged 1.8% while mainland China's Shanghai Composite, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and Australia's ASX rose 0.5% to 0.7%. India's Sensex, however, declined 0.8%.
Overnight, an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale struck Japan even as last month's devastating earthquake that triggered a devastating tsunami and a nuclear crisis remains fresh in investors' minds.
But Japanese equities turned around in the afternoon, after the yen weakened.
Stocks on the Move
Automakers edged up on news Japan's Sendai port was resuming shipments for the first time since March's quake. Toyota, Honda and Suzuki rose 1.4% each.
Electronics majors Sony, Panasonic and Ricoh gained 0.7% to 1.4%.
In Hong Kong and China, buying in bank, oil and property stocks boosted the indexes. CNOOC added 0.5% tracking gains in crude oil prices.
In financials, Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and China Construction Bank rose 0.3% to 0.7%.
Indian stocks bucked the positive trend but closed positive for the week. Metals and oil stocks were the worst hit: state-run fuel retailer HPCL lost 3.3% following gains in the crude prices.
While in Sydney, energy shares Santos and Woodside Petroleum boosted the index, rising about 0.6% each. Heavyweight miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto traded lower throughout the day but managed to edge up slightly before close.