source from：WSJ
MARKETS  ASIA STOCKS
Asia Stocks Mostly Up as Japanese Shares Climb
Japanese stocks surged after officials warned that the government could intervene against a rising yen


By DOMINIQUE FONG
Updated May 10, 2016 4:45 a.m. ET
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Shares in Asia reversed earlier losses to end mostly higher on Tuesday, led by a surge in Japanese stocks after officials warned that the government could intervene against a sharp rise in the yen.

Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average ended up 2.2%, Korea’s Kospi rose 0.8%, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.4%.

In China, the Shanghai Composite Index ended little changed. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was up 0.4%.

Japanese finance minister Taro Aso said Tuesday it would be “natural” for the government to intervene if the yen were to gain abruptly against the U.S. dollar. A strong local currency puts pressure on the earnings of exporters because it can make their goods more expensive overseas.

The Japanese yen weakened overnight but was steady in early Asia trading. The dollar was recently at ￥108.77.

The weaker yen appeared to encourage investors, and Japanese stocks rose on the back of the dollar’s modest recovery, said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management.

“The problem for Japanese stocks has been the yen,” said Yusuke Sakai, senior trader at T&D Asset Management. “If that uncertainty is removed, the stocks appear to be lagging [behind other markets],”

In the Philippines, stocks rose after early election results showed presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte to be ahead by a wide margin and on the cusp of victory. The benchmark PSEi surged 2.6%, its largest one-day gain since Jan. 27.

The Philippine peso was also strengthening more than its Asian peers, and was last at 46.75 per dollar.

“Investors are still waiting for a pronouncement from Mayor Duterte on who his economic team will be and on his economic program,” said Astro del Castillo, managing director of First Grade Holdings, a financial advisory firm.

Elsewhere, Chinese stocks were choppy after data showed consumer inflation rose 2.3% in April from a year earlier, unchanged for the third consecutive month and nearly in line with analysts’ expectations.

A selloff in Chinese commodities futures also resumed Tuesday, as weak sentiment in the spot market rolled over into futures markets. In Shanghai, the most actively traded steel rebar futures contract fell 6.4%, while iron ore futures trade down 5.3% to 382.5 yuan a ton.

Chinese regulators have been installing measures to curb speculation on certain commodities.

The selloff in China, combined with the overnight slump in oil prices, squeezed energy shares in the Asia-Pacific region. In Australia, Rio Tinto Ltd. tumbled 2.9%, and BHP Billiton Ltd. fell 3.2%. They are the world’s second- and third-biggest iron-ore suppliers, respectively.

Some investors are seeing tepid markets as an opportunity to bank profits from the rally earlier this year, said Margaret Yang, a market analyst for CMC Markets Singapore.

“The market sentiment overall is quite pessimistic,” Ms. Yang said. “May might be a good time to take profit. Since we have rallied so much in the first quarter, we might see some selling pressure in the second quarter.”

—Kosaku Narioka, Gregor Stuart Hunter, Cris Larano and Yifan Xie contributed to this article.