Most Asia-Pacific stocks rose as Japan’s machinery orders increased more than economists expected and South Korea’s unemployment rate fell.

Today:

Nikkei 8,587.84 +51.12 +0.60%

Hang Seng 19,026.52 +153.96 +0.82%

S&P/ASX  4,063.79 -9.09 -0.22%

Shanghai Composite 2,318.92 +29.13 +1.27%

Shares of Hitachi Ltd., which gets about one-third of sales from industrial machinery, climbed 2.4%.

Shares of Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest maker of mobile phones, rose 1.3%.

Shares Esprit Holdings Ltd. tumbled 21% before share trading was suspended after the clothier’s chief executive officer quit.