Japan, Australia stocks up, but China shares slump

[WTB RSS]

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Japanese stocks gained Wednesday thanks to a weaker yen, while Australian shares got a boost from earnings, but a new policy move to set stricter requirements on property purchases in Beijing dragged on the greater China markets. In afternoon trade, Japan's Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.5%, with some export-focused blue-chips rising after overnight U.S. gains and with the dollar remaining above the 83.50-yen level. Sony Corp. rose 2.2%, while Canon Inc. jumped 4.2%, with a Dow Jones report citing investors seeking stocks that have recently lagged the market. Strong earnings at Australia's Qantas Airways Ltd. sent the shares climbing 5.4%, with Sydney's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 rising 0.2%. But Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 0.1%, and the Shanghai Composite lost 0.4%, with mainland Chinese property shares falling after news of the new policy move in Beijing. Shanghai-listed shares of developer Gemdale Corp. dropped 2.4%, while Poly Real Estate Group Co. Ltd. was down 2.9%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/jwYL2jFZOgdqGKyrvLcmdOR0_ZM/0/di (http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/jwYL2jFZOgdqGKyrvLcmdOR0_ZM/0/da)
http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/jwYL2jFZOgdqGKyrvLcmdOR0_ZM/1/di (http://feedads.g.doubleclick.net/~at/jwYL2jFZOgdqGKyrvLcmdOR0_ZM/1/da)

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketwatch/marketpulse?d=yIl2AUoC8zA (http://feeds.marketwatch.com/~ff/marketwatch/marketpulse?a=sO10LvS0xdU:wdvviGiGajM:yIl2AUoC8zA) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketwatch/marketpulse?i=sO10LvS0xdU:wdvviGiGajM:F7zBnMyn0Lo (http://feeds.marketwatch.com/~ff/marketwatch/marketpulse?a=sO10LvS0xdU:wdvviGiGajM:F7zBnMyn0Lo) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketwatch/marketpulse?i=sO10LvS0xdU:wdvviGiGajM:V_sGLiPBpWU (http://feeds.marketwatch.com/~ff/marketwatch/marketpulse?a=sO10LvS0xdU:wdvviGiGajM:V_sGLiPBpWU) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/marketwatch/marketpulse?d=qj6IDK7rITs (http://feeds.marketwatch.com/~ff/marketwatch/marketpulse?a=sO10LvS0xdU:wdvviGiGajM:qj6IDK7rITs)
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/marketwatch/marketpulse/~4/sO10LvS0xdU

More... (http://feeds.marketwatch.com/~r/marketwatch/marketpulse/~3/sO10LvS0xdU/story.aspx)