Tokyo, Japan (BBN)-Japanese shares rose despite news that the latest talks in the euro zone over Greece ended without a resolution.
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, head of the Eurogroup of eurozone ministers, said six hours of talks produced no agreement on an extension of Greece’s 24bn euro ($270bn; £17.8bn) bailout plan, reports BBC. The Nikkei 225 was up 1.5% to 17,925.54 after being closed on Wednesday. The dollar was at 120.05 yen, down from 120.35 yen in US trade.
Investor sentiment was boosted by data that showed Japan’s core machinery orders rose in December at the fastest pace in six months and companies expected orders to increase. The 8.3% month-on-month gain was much higher than the median estimate for a 2.4% increase.
Chinese markets headed lower as investors turned cautious ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday next week.
The Shanghai Composite down 0.7% at 3,136.18, while in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index was down 0.3% to 24,241.89.
In Australia, shares headed lower after data showed that the country’s unemployment rate jumped to a decade high.
The jobless rate jumped to 6.4% from 6.1% to levels not seen since August 2002.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.2% to 5,758.2.
South Korean shares also headed down with Kospi index lower 0.6% to 1,934.1.
Shares of Korea Gas plunged 4.7% after the state utility reported a 32% decline in profits during the fourth quarter, well below forecasts.
BBN/AKG/AD-12Feb15-11:00am (BST)