Asian stock markets ended mixed Wednesday, with Chinese shares snapping a seven-session winning streak and financial stocks in some other markets retreating after recent heady gains.
Japan's Nikkei 225 Average ended down 8.31 points, or 0.1% at 8,479.99.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 288.23, or 2.1%, to 13,622.11.
In Tokyo trading, Shinsei Bank shares fell 2.6% and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group slipped 0.6%, reversing some gains from earlier in the week.
Some exporters advanced, with Toyota Motor Corp. rising 1.3%, despite data showing Japan's exports plunged 49.4% in February from a year earlier, faster than a 43% decline in imports.
One analyst wrote in a report that Japan's public pension funds are net buyers in local equities so far this month, and may continue to increase the weighting of equities in their portfolios through the end of March.
In Sydney, Brambles stock sank 11.7% after it lost a PepsiCo Inc. contract to supply wooden pallets.
In Hong Kong, shares of market heavyweight HSBC Holdings dropped 4.7%, after surging nearly 10% Tuesday.
Fisher & Paykel Appliances jumped 10.3% on news it had negotiated a temporary agreement with the assembly work force and a union at its Auckland refrigeration unit. The agreement for a 35-hour working week arrangement will prevent around 60 job losses, the company said.
The Japanese yen was off its lows of earlier in the Asian day, with the U.S. dollar at 97.67 yen recently, compared with 98.34 yen earlier. The euro was down at 131.41 yen from 132.57 yen earlier in the day and 131.60 yen in the U.S.
Against the dollar, the euro edged up to $1.3451, from $1.3443 U.S.
Some selling had come into riskier -- and thus higher-yielding -- currencies like the Australian dollar, which had fallen below $0.70 U.S.. The aussie was recently buying $0.6932 U.S.
Spot gold fell 30 cents to $925.80 a troy ounce, after falling in New York.
CHINA
China's Shanghai Composite fell 2%, or 50.46 points, to 2,401.33 for its first decline in eight sessions. Refining giant China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., also known as Sinopec, saw its stock jump 5.5% a day after the Chinese government raised domestic motor fuel prices.
Regarding other Chinese companies, shares of Rio Tinto added 1.1% in Sydney after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it will not block Chinalco's $19.5-billion U.S. investment in the miner, clearing the first hurdle for the deal.
Elsewhere:
Singapore’s Straits Times Index subsided 14.66 points or 0.9%, to 1,691.68
South Korea’s Kospi Composite Index gained 7.32 points, or 0.6%, to 1,229.02
Taiwan’s Taiex Index sailed 104.20 points, or 2%, higher, to 5,346.38
New Zealand’s NZX Index sank five points, or 0.2% to 2,630.33
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index picked up 29.30 or 0.8% to end the day at 3,609.30
