05:36 AM EST, 12/02/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets largely gained on Monday on Wall Street cues, central bank outlooks and on improving industrial-sector reports from mainland China.

Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo finished in the green, as did most other regional exchanges.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened evenly, wobbled but finished up 0.8% as traders bought into bank stocks on hopes that higher interest rates, hinted at by the nation's top central banker, will levitate lender profits.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 304.99 to 38,513.02 as gaining issues outnumbered losers 182 to 42.

Leading the upside was electrical-equipment maker Fujikura, up 6.4%, while cosmetics-house Shiseido fell 6.6%.

In economic news, pretax profits at Japanese companies in Q3 fell 3.3% on year, undercut in part by a stronger yen that reduced reported earnings from offshore revenue, the Finance Ministry reported.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened higher and held ground to finish up 0.6%, after relatively strong manufacturing-sector reports on China.

The broad gauge Hang Seng rose 126.68 to 19,550.29 as gaining issues outnumbered losers 59 to 19. The Hang Seng TECH Index gained 1.2% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index rose 0.6%.

Leading the upside was BYD Electronic International, gaining 11.3%, while Li Auto declined 2.6%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite rose 1.1% to 3,363.98.

In economic news, the headline seasonally adjusted China Caixin purchasing managers index rose to 51.5 in November, up from 50.3 in October, and rising further above the 50-marker that separates growth from contraction, S&P Global said.

Separately, the official PMI of China's manufacturing industry struck 50.3 in November, up from 50.1 in October, reported the National Bureau of Statistics.

On the other regional exchanges, the South Korean KOSPI fell 0.1%; the Taiwan TWSE inclined 2%; the Australian ASX 200 inclined 0.1%; the Singapore Straits Times Index rose 0.3%, and the Thai Set inclined 0.9%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was up 0.5%.