Asia markets – the ones still trading -- traded mixed on Wednesday, even after U.S. equities closed higher overnight.
The Nikkei 225 index added 12.59 points or 0.1%, to 20,626.66
Several markets, including South Korea, Taiwan and China, remain shut this week for public holidays.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index gained 205.97 points, or 0.7%, to 28,379.18, with shares of Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD gaining nearly 8%.
In Japan, Fast Retailing shares lost early gains of more than 1% to close down 0.8%. The initial gains followed reports that said same-store sales at its Uniqlo retail outlets in the country rose 6.3% on-year in September.
Meanwhile, shares of Japan Display rose nearly 24% following a report from the Nikkei business daily that the company intends to begin mass production of small OLED panels for smartphones as early as 2019.
Its affiliate, JOLED, has plans to begin printing midsize and large OLED panels for industrial equipment and televisions, Nikkei said.
The Japan business daily also said Japan Display began looking for a partner to split its smartphone panel investment, which is expected to be more than $1.77 billion U.S.
Singapore-listed shares of SIA Engineering fell 6.1% in afternoon trade after reports said JPMorgan was offering a block trade of SIA Engineering shares. The Singapore Exchange filed a query with the company about the share price move.
Australian stocks slipped, with the energy sub-index was down 1.1% and the heavily-weighted financial sector fell 0.7%
Major Australian banking stocks were mostly lower, with ANZ shares shedding 2.1% Westpac off 0.9% and the National Australia Bank lower by 1.2%. Commonwealth Bank shares bucked the downtrend and rose 0.3%.
The Japanese yen traded at 112.56 per U.S. dollar, strengthening from levels near 113.1 in the previous session.
The Australian dollar, for its part, climbed from levels near $0.78 in the last session to trade at $0.7856 on Wednesday afternoon.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index lost 9.43 points, or 0.3%, to 3,236.65
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 gained 16.27 points, or 0.2%, to 7,949.69
In Australia, the ASX 200 dropped 49.38 points, or 0.9%, to 5,652.06
