Asia: Nikkei and Shanghai Composite hit new highs, while Hang Seng falls

Japanese stocks ended the week on a strong note, as the benchmark index rose to a new 15-year high.

Japan’s Nikkei Average gained 0.4% to close at 19,560.22 points, its highest tally at the end of a session since April 2000. Over the last seven days, the index advanced 1.6%, marking a sixth consecutive weeks of gains, the longest streak of weekly gains since the middle of last year.

The yen lost 0.19% against the dollar, registering declines of 0.16% and 0.45% against the pound and the euro respectively.

The Bank of Japan released minutes from its meeting earlier in the week, which showed that policymakers voted 8-1 in favour of keeping the annual increase in the monetary base at ¥80trn, even though Japan’s central bank expects inflation to remain around zero.

“The concern is that lower household and business inflation expectations could lead to lower spending and investment which could lead to another deflationary spiral in Japan,” said Oanda’s senior market analyst Craig Erlam.

“This could effectively destroy all the hard work undertaken by Abe and the central bank over the last couple of years.”

Japan’s major stocks were a mixed bag, with Kyocera jumping 7.85%, while Panasonic climbed 0.19% and Hitachi gained 0.48%.

Toshiba rose 0.4% after announcing commercial production of a 13-megapixel image sensor, which will allow smartphones and tablets to record HD video at a high frame rate.

Going the other way, Sony Corp declined 0.64%, while Nintendo plunged 6.57% after soaring 38% in over the week after unveiling plans to make mobile games.

Chinese stocks on the mainland reached a new high, with the Shanghai Composite Index rising 0.98% to 3,617.32 points, the first time the index had finished above the 3,600 level in almost seven years.

Following two days of gains, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.38%, while South Korea’s Kospi Composite Index relinquished 0.03%.

China Mobile lost 1.60% after posting a bigger-than-expected drop in annual operating profits, while major mainland Chinese banks edged higher after a choppy session.

China Minsheng Banking rose 0.32%, while China Merchants Bank and China Construction Bank gained 0.21% and 0.46% respectively.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.42% as banking stocks reversed initial losses to eke out gains towards the end of the session, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Australia Bank gaining 0.74% and 0.38% respectively, while Westpac Banking Corp edged 0.05% higher.