Asian markets were mostly higher in the afternoon and the Mexican peso strengthened against the dollar on Thursday following the conclusion of the final U.S. Presidential debate.
The Nikkei 225 Index advanced 236.59 points, or 1.4%, to 17,235.50
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index regained 69.43 points, or 0.3%, to 23,374.40
In Japan, shares of gaming giant Nintendo climbed 3.3% to 26,950 yen a share, after the company teased on social media that it would offer a glimpse of its upcoming NX gaming console to the public later in the global day.
Shares of Nikkei index heavyweight Fast Retailing, which owns the clothing chain Uniqlo, closed up 3.7% while SoftBank, which recently announced a tie-up with Saudi Arabia to set up a $100-billion U.S. investment fund to invest in the technology sector, gained 1.6%.
Sharp shares advanced 7.7% On Thursday morning, the Japanese business daily Nikkei reported, citing sources, that Foxconn, which controls a majority stake in Sharp, was trying to expand into the semiconductor industry by partnering with SoftBank-owned ARM to create a chip design center in Shenzhen.
Aside from the debate, it was a relatively data-light session in the region, though employment numbers in Australia came in lower than expected.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that in September, the total number of jobs decreased by 9,800, widely missing a poll that predicted an increase of 15,000 jobs, as full-time employment fell by 53,000 jobs, while part-time employment rose. At the same time, the unemployment rate also fell by 0.1 percentage-point on-month to 5.6% and the labour-force participation rate dropped.
The Australian dollar dropped from a session high of $0.7734 to as low as $0.7652 U.S. after the report. As of late afternoon local time the Aussie traded at $0.7662 U.S.
Investors in Australia assessed key resource producers for their quarterly production numbers.
Global miner Rio Tinto announced before the market open that it lowered its 2016 guidance for iron ore shipments to between 325 million and 330 million tons, compared with an earlier guidance of around 330 million tons, citing a reduction in shipments due to port and rail maintenance.
Its third quarter 2016 shipment of iron ore came in 80.9 million tons, which was down 5% on-year and down 2% on-quarter. Rio Tinto shares, however, closed up 0.4%.
Fortescue said it increased its iron ore shipment by 5% on-year in the first quarter of fiscal 2017 to 43.8 million tons and maintained full fiscal year guidance at 165 million-170 million tons. The miner also slashed its so-called C1 costs by 20% on-year, from $16.90 a ton to $13.55 a ton.
Fortescue shares closed down 1.9%.
BHP Billiton, which announced its production numbers on Wednesday, finished up 1.7%
In other markets
The CSI 300 recaptured 2.36 points, or 0.1%, to 3,318.60
In Korea, the Kospi moved down 0.34 points to 2,040.60
The Straits Times Index in Singapore subtracted two points, or 0.1%, to 2,842.62
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index gained 33.25 points, or 0.4%, to 9,317.24
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 slid 2.75 points to 6,973.78
In Australia, the ASX 200 picked up 6.78 points, or 0.1%, to 5,442.14
