Shanghai Slips; Hong Kong Leads in Upbeat Asia

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.