Australian shares rose on Wednesday while Hong Kong and Singapore shares struggled for gains. Some of the other major Asia-Pacific markets are closed for the day.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index fell 139.16 points, or 0.5%, to 28,417.98.
Markets in Australia rose 0.4% with the heavily-weighted financials sub-index rising 0.6%. Energy rose 0.2%, and materials picked up 0.8%, as major miners and oil stocks mostly closed up.
Singapore indexes faded as the city-state said Tuesday that it will tighten social restrictions after detecting within its borders the COVID-19 variant that experts say is partially responsible for India’s staggering rise in cases.
Markets on the Chinese mainland and Japan remain closed for public holidays. South Korean markets are also shut.
The Japanese yen changed hands at 109.41 per U.S. dollar while the Australian dollar traded up 0.13% to $0.7715.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times index docked 25.54 points, or 0.8%, to 3,153.59.
In Taiwan, the Taiex index tumbled 90.34 points, or 0.5%, to 16,843.44
In New Zealand the NZX 50 lost 63.89 points, or 0.5%, to 12,848.31
In Australia, the ASX 200 added 27.96 points, or 0.4%, to 7,095.82.
