Asian stocks approve of stabilised commodity prices

Asian stocks ticked up on Wednesday, responding with resounding relief to an end-of-year stabilisation in commodity prices.

The Hang Seng Index was up 0.96%, the Kospi was up 0.33%, and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 made it a sixth consecutive day of gains, rising 0.49%.

Energy was again a leader after a bumpy start to the month. The sector rose 3.2% in Australia already this week, though they remained suppressed on a monthly basis, having lost more than 10% since 1 December.

Major Australian energy firms Santos and Woodside Petroleum lost around 8% each in the month so far. On Wednesday, Santos lost 0.27% while Woodside gained 1.06%.

In Hong Kong, energy stocks on the Hang Seng bounded 3.5% ahead during the day, but remained muted by more than 2% for December.

"The pause in the oil price, and the weakness in the US dollar, appear to have helped equity markets overnight", said IG broker Angus Nicholson in a note.

At 1050 GMT, London Brent was up 1.15% to USD $36.53 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate was up 0.959% to $36.49.

Singapore supply chain multinational Noble Group gained 4.55% on the SGX after Tuesday's announcement it had reached agreement to sell the remaining 49% it held in its agricultural unit to the other owner, Chinese state-backed Cofco, for USD $750m (£504.16m).

In China, officials guided the loosely-pegged onshore yuan stronger against the US dollar for the third day in a row to CNY 6.4752 per USD $1.00. It still sat just above its 2011 record low against the greenback, thanks to the extended period of weakening from Beijing last week.

It was trading at CNY 6.4764 per USD $1.00 at 1050 GMT, well within its permitted 2% float range.

Another day brought more frenzied buying from Chinese insurers as well, sparking wider speculative interest. Zhongrong Life Insurance upped its stake in Suzhou TFC Optical Communication to 5%, sparking an initial 10% jump in the stock price.

It closed up 5.17% to CNY 129.79 (£13.47).

"Insurance funds, marked by high cost, are seeking higher yields from the equity market due to limited alternative investment channels", said analyst Deng Wenyuan of Soochow Securities.

But ongoing concerns over US high-yield debt appeared to push the markets on the mainland down, with the Shanghai Composite Index losing 0.43% during the day.

In currencies, the yen dropped 0.1% against the US to JPY 120.95. The Aussie was up 0.17% to AUD$ 1.3844, and the Kiwi gained 0.15% to NZD $1.4714.

Trading took a back seat to the birthday cake in Japan, with the markets there remaining closed for the emperor's birthday celebrations.