Asian markets rose Thursday, after major U.S. indexes had a banner session to hit record highs overnight, ahead of the European Central Bank's last interest rate decision for the year.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Index hiked 268.78 points, or 1.5%, to 18,765.47
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong picked up 60.92 points, or 0.3%, to 22,861.84
The dollar/yen was trading at 113.48 as of mid-afternoon local time, versus levels around 114 yesterday.
Japan's third-quarter economic growth was revised down to 1.3% year-on-year, from the preliminary reading of 2.2%. An economist poll had expected growth to be revised up to 2.4%.
Sony was up 1.9% at 3,261 yen, after the Japanese conglomerate said late on Wednesday that it would release eleven new smartphone games in Japan next year, and introduce companion gadgets.
SoftBank's stock gained 5.5% to 7,792 yen, as investors continued to cheer news on Tuesday that SoftBank CEO met up with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and pledged to invest $50 billion in the U.S.
Hong Kong-listed HSBC fell 0.6% at $65.10, paring off a 16-month high at HK$67.25.. The stock shot up 6% on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley upgraded the banking stock to an overweight rating with a target price of HK$64 on Tuesday, citing an improved revenue outlook as a Federal Reserve rate hike would benefit most Hong Kong banks.
Australian markets enjoyed healthy gains, with their materials sub-index up 1.5% and the financials sub-index up 1.7%. Australia reported trade balance data for October, with a deficit of 1.541 billion Australian dollars ($1.2 billion U.S.), wider than the A$800-million gap forecast.
CHINA
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 dropped 5.61 points, or 0.2%, to 3,470.14
China's November dollar-denominated imports grew 6.7%, the fastest pace of annualized growth since September 2013, while exports were up 0.1% in U.S. dollar terms.
A poll of analysts had expected November exports to have fallen 5% from the previous year, while imports were forecast to drop 6.2%
The trade data had missed the expected release time by several hours.
In other markets
In Korea, the Kospi gained 39.18 points, or 2%, at 2,031.07
The Straits Times Index in Singapore eased 0.98 points to 2,958.86
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index leaped 111.97 points, or 1.2%, to 9,375.86
The NZX 50 recovered 26.24 points, or 0.4%, at 6,916.01
Australia's ASX 200 improved 65.53 points, or 1.2%, at 5,543.64
