06:46 AM EDT, 10/09/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets largely gained Thursday, as traders again crowded back into tech issues after overnight rallies on Wall Street.

Tokyo finished in the green, as did most other regional exchanges, though Hong Kong lost ground on renewed concerns that China's post-pandemic consumer spending is still lagging.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened higher on New York cues and rose to the close, finishing up 1.8% as traders again crowded into tech issues.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 845.45 to 48,580.44, striking a fresh all-time high, as gaining issues outnumbered losers 140 to 83.

Leading the upside was SoftBank, up 11%, while heavy equipment maker IHI declined 4.4%.

SoftBank shares jumped after the tech-financier agreed to buy the robotics business of Swiss engineering group ABB in a $5.4 billion deal, seen as a move to fuse robotics and AI.

In economic news, Japan's machine tool orders struck a six-month high in September, and gained 9.9% on year, reported the Japan Machine Tool Builders Association (JMTBA).

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened lower and could not recover, finishing off 0.3% after a tepid holiday retail sales report from Beijing.

The broad gauge Hang Seng fell 76.87 to 26,752.59, although gaining issues outnumbered losers 62 to 26. The Hang Seng TECH Index lost 0.7% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index rose 1.4%.

Leading the upside was Hang Seng Bank, up nearly 26%, after HSBC Holdings proposed to fully privatize the bank in a buyout deal, valuing the target at HK$290.31 billion.

In economic news, key retail and catering enterprises in mainland China notched a tempered 2.7% on-year gain in sales during China's just-completed Golden Week holiday, reported the Ministry of Commerce.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite opened after a week-long hiatus and rose 1.3% to 3,933.97.

On the other regional exchanges, the Taiwan TWSE inclined 0.9%; the Australian ASX 200 rose 0.3%; the Singapore Straits Times Index fell 0.4%, and the Thai Set inclined 0.7%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was up 0.5%.