Asian shares rise; Hong Kong gains on China banks

Asian stocks steadied in morning trade to move modestly higher, led by gains in Hong Kong.

A rise in heavily-weighted Chinese bank stocks buoyed Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index 0.9% higher to 22,022.10. China's major banks this week have reported solid profits for 2013, easing for now lingering doubts around the sector's financial health.

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the nation's largest bank by assets, late Thursday said its net profit for 2013 rose 10% from a year earlier. Shares rose 1.5% Friday.

In Sydney, stocks on the S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.3% as the Australian dollar continued its run higher. The currency last traded at US$0.9293 from US$0.9257 late in New York.

Bloomberg Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. (ICBC) signage is seen on one of the company's offices in Beijing, China.

"There is buying to get out of a short and buying to go long," said Marc Chandler, global head of foreign-exchange at Brown Brothers Harriman. "Shorts are getting out, and there are bottom-pickers coming in."

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index rose 0.1% after falling as much as 0.7% in early trading. Corporate news took the lion's share of attention. Shares of Yahoo Japan Corp. slid 9% after the company said it would pay ¥324 billion (US$3.15 billion) to acquire wireless service provider eAccess from majority shareholder SoftBank Corp. SoftBank shares fell 2.2%.

Traders were also digesting data showing that household spending fell in Japan last month, defying expectations for a consumer spending boom ahead of Japan's sales tax increase next week. Household spending fell 2.5% in February versus the 0.1% rise economists expected.

Korea's Kospi index rose 0.33% to 1984.42 while Taiwan's Taiex traded flat.

A weak session on Wall Street had put a damper on initial trading Friday. The world's largest stock market has struggled for direction this week amid mixed reports on the U.S. economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell less than 0.1% to close at 16264.23 Thursday. It had been down as many as 77.20 points, and up 31.95 points, during the session. The S&P 500 index lost 3.52 points, or 0.2%, to 1849.04.

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