Asian stocks outside mainland China ended with gains Friday as investors shrugged off weak cues from Wall Street overnights.
HOng Kong's Hang Seng led the gains, adding 1.1% while Mumbai's Sensex gained 0.6%.
Japan's Nikkei was up 0.5% while Australia's All Ordinaries added 0.3%.
On the other side, the Shanghai Composite lagged behind, ending 0.2% down.
In economic news, data released in Japan showed the country’s household spending unexpectedly dropped in February, down 2.5%, while retail sales gained 3.6% versus expectations for a 3.2% increase.
Finance Minister Taro Aso said data showing a drop in household spending just before the first sales tax hike since 1997 was a problem and that the government would speed up expenditure, putting 40% of expenditures for the next financial year into the April-June quarter.
In other data, the nationwide core consumer price index rose 1.3% from a year ago, marking the ninth straight month of increase, and in line with forecasts. The jobless rate stood at 3.6%.
In Beijing, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said economic growth should be maintained at a "reasonable" pace, his comments coming on the back of a series of steps that could provide a stimulus to the economy.
Stocks on the Move
Sony and Canon were up around 0.8% each. Earlier, Sony announced the sale of some of its property in Tokyo to Sumitomo Realty. Shares of Sumitomo edged up 0.9%.
Panasonic dropped 2.3% even as its CEO Masayoshi Son declined to comment on the company’s reported plans to produce batteries for electric car-maker Tesla.
Olympus and Toshiba were down about 2.5% and 0.2% respectively.
Yahoo Japan was a big loser, down around 6.5% after it said it has bought mobile provider eAccess from Softbank (a majority shareholder in Yahoo Japan), for 324 billion yen. Softbank was also lower, falling 1.5%.
Retailers were mostly up after the upbeat data with Fast Retailing up 1.9% and FamilyMart up 1.9%. Seven & I Holdings was up 1.5% but J. Front was up 0.9%.
The focus was mostly on earnings in the Chinese markets with shares of China’s biggest bank ICBC up 2.4%. ICBC reported a 10% gain in 2013 net profit, beating estimates.
China Citic Bank lost 1.5% in Shanghai. The bank reported results late Thursday.
Other Chinese lenders were higher with AgBank and Bank of Communications up 1.3% and 1.1% each, respectively.
However, Wharf Holdings added 0.5% in Hong Kong despite disappointing results while China COSCO Holdings fell 2.5% in spite of swinging to an annual profit.
In Mumbai, the Sensex touched a fresh lifetime high for the third straight session in morning trade.
Among the leaders, Tata Power rose 4.5%, Hindalco Industries added over 4%, SBI gained 3.4%, NTPC added 3.3%, Bharti Airtel improved 2.2% and Coal India added 2.1%.
In Sydney, major miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were up 0.4% and 0.1% each, respectively.
Fortescue Metals was up 1.5% while OZ Minerals gained 4%.
Virgin Australia soared over 4% after the airline said Singapore Airlines increased its stake in the company to a little over 22% from 20% earlier.