HONG KONG-- Asian stocks were mostly higher Thursday, with South Korea fronting the advance as investors chased LG.Philips LCD, Hanjin Shipping and other blue-chips, while in Japan, Sony Corp. rose for the third straight session.
South Korea's Composite Stock Price Index, or Kospi, was up 0.6%, as bargain hunting apparently outweighed investors' concerns over North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
The Nikkei 225 Average ended the morning session up 0.4% to 16,459.4. The broader Topix index ended up 0.2% to 1,625.1.
Elsewhere across the region, shares listed in Australia were down 0.1%. Stocks in Malaysia, Singapore and New Zealand were higher. Taiwan's leading index fell 0.2% while Indonesia's Jakarta Composite was down 0.1%. Shares listed in Shanghai were down 0.3%.
In Hong Kong the blue-chip Hang Seng Index traded nearly flat to 17,848.3. The China Enterprises Index, which tracks 37 mainland-incorporated companies listed in Hong Kong, rose 0.7% to 7,269.7.
"I don't believe the [nuclear] test materially change anything," said Spencer White, Merrill Lynch's chief equity strategist, Asia Pacific. "There has been some short-term volatility with currencies and equity markets in both South Korea and Japan, but the reaction of overseas investors was to buy in very considerable size."
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