Asia report: Most stocks rise as Japan hits record trade deficit

Asia-Pacific stock markets were mostly higher on Thursday, supported by stronger-than-expected US retail sales and despite a record trade deficit in Japan.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan climbed 0.71% to 27,696.44, while the Topix index gained 0.67% to 2,001.09.

In China, the Shanghai Composite declined 0.96% to 3,249.03 and the Shenzhen Component dropped 1.3% to 11,907.40.

Meanwhile, the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong increased 0.84% to 20,987.67.

South Korea's Kospi rose 1.96% to 2,475.48, while in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.79% to 7,401.30.

The S&P/NZX 50 index in New Zealand also rose, up 0.62% to 12,157.75.

In Japan, exporters and tech firms were in the green, with Fanuc rising 0.44%, Fast Retailing up 1.73%, and SoftBank Group up 1.76%.

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics rose 2.41% and SK Hynix gained 1.31% in South Korea.

On the economic front, Japan's trade deficit expanded to JPY 3.5trn (£22bn) in January, widening by 59% over the same period a year ago, as imports surged 17.8%.

Exports rose 3.5% on an annualised basis.

“The trade balance has come in less negative than expected, with this being due to exports coming in higher than expected and imports lower,” Rabobank noted.

“Meanwhile core machine orders data has come in weaker than expected.”

Australia's unemployment rate for January, meanwhile, increased by 0.2 percentage points from December to 3.7%, reaching its highest level since May, with the number of unemployed climbing 21,900 to 523,200.

Employment also fell by 11,500 people from December to January, a 0.1% drop compared to December, but a 3% rise on a year-on-year basis.

“If there is an upside, it's the Australian Bureau of Statistics commentary that January is the most seasonal time of the year in the Australian labour market, implying to not read too much into today's soft print,” said analysts at TD Securities.

“There could be a strong upside when employment data for February is released.

“While technical issues may explain why Australia is bucking the stronger offshore trend in payrolls, if the February employment data reveals a third month of job losses, the argument for the Reserve Bank of Australia to pause will grow, a clear challenge to our 4.35% call.”

In interest rate action, the Philippines central bank raised its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 6%, in line with expectations, as the country's inflation rose to 8.7%.

That was its highest level since October 2008, and higher than December’s figure of 8.1%.

Oil prices were in the red, with Brent crude futures down 0.32% on ICE to $85.11 per barrel, and West Texas Intermediate falling 0.25% on NYMEX to $78.39 per barrel.

On the currency front, the yen was 0.22% stronger on the dollar at JPY 133.86, while both the Aussie and Kiwi gained 0.26% on the greenback to AUD 1.4448 and NZD 1.5878, respectively.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.