Hong Kong rebounds on banks and properties

Asian stock markets ended mostly higher on Friday as investors watched the volatile situation in Libya nervously, but took encouragement from easing oil prices.

A Financial Times report that Saudi Arabia would try to make up the shortfall from any disruption to Libyan supplies knocked crude off its highs and helped equities pare losses.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was the region's best performing stock index, climbing 1.8% to 23,012.37 - putting an end to four consecutive sessions of losses.

Banks and property developers rose on bargain-hunting. HSBC Holdings climbed 2.2% to HK$89.05, while Hang Lung Properties was the Hang Seng's top gainer, up 4.3% to HK$32.65.

In Tokyo, Toyota Motor rose 2.2% to Y3,755 as investors cheered the conclusion of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation into the safety of its vehicles, in spite of the fact that the US agency demanded another recall of 2.2m Toyota and Lexus vehicles because of defective floor mats.

Elpida Memory surged 6.4% to Y1,216 on hopes of higher prices for D-Ram chips, while KDDI, the mobile operator, rose 0.8% to Y532,000 after it said it had struck a deal with Skype Technologies to provide content.

The Nikkei 225 Average climbed 0.7% to 10,526.76, ending four sessions of losses.

In Seoul, Korean Air Lines jumped 4.8% to Won64,000 on easing concerns about higher fuel costs as Nymex West Texas Intermediate crude contracts dropped back below USD 100 a barrel.

Builders extended gains with Hyundai Engineering & Construction up 6.5% to Won75,500 and GS Engineering & Construction 3.5% higher to Won103,000.

The Kospi Composite index climbed 0.7% to 1,963.43 after four days of losses.

Australian resource stocks were mixed, with some lingering concerns that oil supply disruptions may derail the global economic recovery. Rio Tinto fell 0.4% to A$83.93.

But Iluka Resources gained 7.8% to A$10.66 after the world's largest zircon producer reported a swing back into profit in the second half.

The S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.6% to 4,836.5 following falling in the previous five sessions.

China's Shanghai Composite ended the session flat at 2,878.6, failing to make further progress after two sessions of gains as falling gold mining stocks offset gains for financial groups.