2013.05.1603:03:07UTC+00Most Asian stocks boosts; Tokyo, Sydney decline

Most Asian markets advance Thursday after key U.S. indexes clinched another record finish overnight, although Japanese stocks skidded as a firmer yen led investors to lock in recent gains despite strong economic growth data and upbeat results from banks.

The Shanghai Composite, South Korea’s Kospi and Taiwan’s Taiex  each jumped 1%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index improves 0.3%.

On the downside, Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average gave up 1.1% to 14,932.31, a day after ending above the key 15,000-point level for the first time in more than five years. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 retreated 0.2% as commodity stocks weakened.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average pushed higher on Thursday trading action to end at its 20th record level so far in 2013. But while the continuing rally in U.S. stocks aided sentiment, weak economic growth in the eurozone and sluggish commodity prices kept purchasers in check after strong gains for several regional benchmarks so far in May and this year.

Concerns about slowing growth in Asia was also in focus.

Sanjay Mathur, Royal Bank of Scotland’s Asia-Pacific head of economic research, said growth in the region excluding Japan has “taken a turn for the worse” of late, in terms of gross domestic product growth, exports and manufacturing indicators.

“Overall, we believe that recovery is likely to take its own course and be moderate given the absence of either strong global demand or fresh policy stimuli. This should ensure a period of low inflation and pressure on corporate [profit] margins,” Mathur said.

Stock gains in Hong Kong were led by heavyweight HSBC Holdings PLC, which surged 1% a day after it unveiled a plan to cut costs by up to $3 billion by 2016. The bank is planning to cut as many as 14,000 jobs across the world.

Shares of Internet services major Tencent Holdings Ltd. soared 5.2% after the company announced strong development in quarterly earnings.

Those advances help offset losses in the energy sector as a strengthening dollar weakened the outlook for prices of commodities, including crude oil.

Shares of PetroChina Co. surrendered 2% and Cnooc Ltd. skid 1.1%.

Commodity producers also lost stability in other regional markets, weighing in particular on Australia, where BHP Billiton Ltd. declined 0.8%, gold miner Newcrest Mining Ltd. missed 5.2% and Oil Search Ltd. gave up 1.2%.

A weakened Australian dollar, which recently fell below parity against the U.S. currency, also damped sentiment.

“A falling Australian dollar may put pressure on offshore investors to sell Australian dollar-denominated assets, as they look to preserve gains from a strengthening equity market,” said Tim Radford, a global analyst at Rivkin Securities.

In Tokyo, meanwhile, the drop came despite data released earlier in the day showing the Japanese economy expanded at a better-than-expected rate of 0.9% in the January to March period from the quarter ended Dec. 31.

Banking stocks led the drop even after the country’s three largest banks posted strong results, with the Nikkei newspaper reporting that their combined net profit for the fiscal year ended March 31 climbed 11% due to increased lending and upbeat stock and bond markets.

Shares of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. dropped 2.2%, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. lost 3.7% and Mizuho Financial Group Inc. shed 3.1%.

Some exporters also weakened as the yen firmed up against the U.S. dollar. NEC Corp. fell 1.6% and Komatsu Ltd. dropped 1.5%.