Japanese stocks move higher

Japanese stocks moved higher, though the rest of Asia was mostly lower after slightly improved Chinese manufacturing data failed to energise markets. The Nikkei Share Average rose 1.1% to 15326.20 after the Bank of Japan released its quarterly tankan business survey result. Though the survey showed a steep decline in business sentiment after Japan's recent sales-tax increase, the market instead focused on data showing that large companies raised the target increase for their investment plans to 7.4% from 0.1%, according to AFP.