06:34 AM EDT, 08/28/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets churned on Thursday as traders weighed the earnings season, Nvidia's (NVDA) quarterly financial report released overnight, and Beijing's industrial policies.

Shanghai and Tokyo finished in the green, while Hong Kong lost ground. Other regional exchanges were also uneven.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 finished up 0.7% after US tech giant Nvidia reported its quarterly earnings, which topped consensus expectations.

"While Nvidia's results didn't meet some investor expectations, they showed high growth and demand that Japanese firms in the industry are likely to continue to benefit from," said Masahiro Yamaguchi, head of investment research at SMBC Trust Bank, as reported by The Mainichi newspaper.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 308.52 to 42,828.79, as gaining issues outnumbered losers 169 to 55.

Leading the upside was conglomerate Fujikura, up 5.5%, while optics house Nikon declined 4.3%.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index closed down 0.8% as a mixed earnings season deterred investors.

The broad gauge Hang Seng fell 202.94 to 24,998.82 as losing issues outnumbered gainers 42 to 40. The Hang Seng TECH Index lost 0.9% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index fell 0.5%.

Leading the upside was Semiconductor Manufacturing International, up 10.8% on prospects of Beijing policy support for the semiconductor segment, while delivery service Meituan declined 12.6%, after reporting earnings.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite rose 1.1% to 3,843.60.

On the other regional exchanges, the S. Korean KOSPI rose 0.3%; the Taiwan TWSE declined 1.2%; the Australian ASX 200 rose 0.2%; the Singapore Straits Times Index rose 0.2%, and the Thai Set advanced 0.2%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was down 0.9%

In other news, the Bank of Korea held its key policy interest rate steady at 2.50%, but hinted at future easing, and modestly raised its forecast for the nation's economic growth in 2025 to 0.9% on the year from the previous outlook of 0.8%, citing better-than-expected exports.