Asian Shares Mixed Ahead Of Lunar New Year Holidays

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks ended mixed on Thursday as caution crept in before the Lunar New Year holidays.

Treasuries were unchanged and the dollar moved in a tight range amid Fed rate cut uncertainty.

Gold edged down slightly while oil prices rose for a fourth straight session after Israel rejected a ceasefire offer from Hamas.

Chinese shares ended a choppy session sharply higher, heading into the Lunar New Year break.

There was some positive reaction after Beijing appointed a veteran regulator as the new securities watchdog head.

With prospects of support measures from authorities boosting sentiment, traders shrugged off disappointing inflation data.

China's consumer prices fell last month at the fastest pace since 2009 and producer prices declined for a 16th month in January, underscoring the threat of deflation in the world's second largest economy and fueling expectations of further monetary easing.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite index rallied 1.28 percent to 2,865.90 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index settled 1.27 percent lower at 15,878.07.

Alibaba Group Holdings slumped over 6 percent after missing revenue expectations.

Japanese markets posted strong gains to close at a fresh 34-year high as the yen weakened following comments from Shinichi Uchida, a Bank of Japan's deputy governor, that rapid rate hikes are unlikely even after ending negative rate.

The Nikkei average jumped 2.06 percent to 36,863.28, logging its biggest daily rise in nearly three months led by exporter issues. The broader Topix index ended half a percent higher at 2,562.63.

SoftBank Group Corp jumped more than 11 percent after the technology investor reported a quarterly profit for the first time in more than a year.

Seoul stocks eked out modest gains, with the Kospi average rising 0.41 percent to 2,620.32 on hopes of U.S. rate cuts later this year.

Australian markets ended modestly higher, led by financial and real estate stocks. The benchmark S&P ASX 200 rose 0.31 percent to 7,639.20 while the broader All Ordinaries index closed up 0.31 percent at 7,875.20.

Property investment firm Mirvac Group surged 4.7 percent after posting better-than-expected half-year results and reaffirming its annual forecast.

Power producer AGL Energy soared 10.3 percent after raising its full-year profit forecast.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P NZX-50 index fell 0.67 percent to 11,872.33.

U.S. stocks rose overnight as strong corporate earnings outweighed investor anxiety over when the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates.

The Dow edged up 0.4 percent and the S&P 500 added 0.8 percent to set new record closing highs, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 1 percent.