Asian stocks higher despite stronger yen; Nikkei down 0.74%

Asian stocks are broadly higher today, a day after U.S. stocks rebounded in impressive fashion, as traders are mulling some decent data points. 

In Asian trading Wednesday, Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.74% as USD/JPYtraded lower. The yen rose after it was reported that the Democratic Party of Japan, the main opposition party to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party, may not approve Kikuo Iwata for one of the two open deputy governor slots at the Bank of Japan. 

As of this writing, the Nikkei is the only major Asian index trading to the downside. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is higher by 0.43% while the Shanghai Composite is up 0.34%. 

Lead by mining names, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.7%. Gold caught a bid on Tuesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said various editions of quantitative easing have not yet stoked inflationary pressures in the U.S. 

Earlier today, report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics said fourth-quarter construction spending there fell to -0.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis from 1.9% in the third quarter. Analysts expected the fourth-quarter reading to fall to 1.5%. 

Total construction work done in the fourth quarter, including residential and commercial real estate rose, 1.8% from the third quarter. However, engineering work, including that related to Australia’s mining industry, declined 1.3%. 

New Zealand’s NZSE 50 jumped 0.88% even after Statistics New Zealand said the country’s January trade balance fell to a seasonally adjusted NZD-305 million from NZD486 million in December. Analysts expected a January reading of NZD100 million. 

Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.23% helped by Samsung trading higher. Singapore’s Straits Times Index added 0.33% while S&P 500 futures fell 0.09%.