Asian stocks were mostly higher on Thursday as positive U.S. earnings reports reassured investors that the world’s largest economy was on track. Comments by a top Chinese official buoyed trading too, but poor Japanese data for the second straight day weighed on the Nikkei 225 index.
KEEPING SCORE: The Shanghai Composite index gained 0.4 percent to 2,592.40 and South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.8 percent to 2,145.03. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng picked up 0.3 percent to 27,080.39. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 added 0.4 percent to 5,865.70. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index declined 0.1 percent to 20,574.63. Shares rose in Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore but fell in Malaysia.
