ASIAN markets closed mostly higher

Asian stocks outside Japan rose as Chinese property developers and commodities companies climbed. Japanese shares fell after growth in the world’s third-largest economy slowed more than forecast.

The MSCI Asia Pacific excluding Japan Index advanced 1% to 444.77. All 10 groups on the gauge rose.

China’s Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP), now at the cheapest valuation of the world’s top 10 stock markets, added 2%, on course for the highest closing level in two months.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index (HSI) climbed 2.1%, headed for the highest closing level since June 4.

Japan’s Topix index fell 0.6%. Japan’s economy expanded an annualized 2.6% in the second quarter, slowing from a revised 3.8% in the previous three months. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for 3.6% growth.

Japan’s top-listed companies doubled earnings last quarter from a year earlier, with profit rising 103% and beating analysts’ estimates by 16%, the most in two years.

Even after falling for the past three months, the Topix index is still up 32 percent this year, retaining Japan’s position as the world’s best-performing developed equity market. The measure has risen amid optimism Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will push through reforms while the Bank of Japan provides record stimulus in a bid to ignite a recovery in Asia’s second-largest economy.

“I’m relatively cautious on the stock market,” Takuji Okubo, chief economist at Japan Macro Advisors in Tokyo, told Bloomberg TV. “Next year there is a chance that Japan goes into a recession, and the financial markets usually see that half a year in advance. I would expect the stock market to be peaking now.”

South Korea’s Kospi index today advanced 0.2% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index climbed 1.1%. New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index fell 0.3%. Singapore’s Straits Times Index gained 0.1% and Taiwan’s Taiex Index rose 0.6%.

Raw-materials suppliers led gains on the regional equities index, with BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), the world’s biggest miner, jumping 2.4% in Sydney. China Resources Land Ltd., the second-largest mainland developer traded in Hong Kong, rose 2.5% amid speculation the government will relax a ban on companies raising funds through share sales. 

Bridgestone Corp., Japan’s No. 1 tiremaker, advanced 2.8% after raising its full-year profit forecast.

Citizen Holdings Co. surged 17% the most in 37 years, after the watchmaker boosted its net-income outlook.

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