Asian markets ended mixed Wednesday, with a sharp fall in crude-oil prices boosting airline and automobile stocks such as Korean Air Co. and Honda Motor Co., but triggered a further sell-off in energy-related shares such as Cnooc and PetroChina.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed up 80.12 points or 0.64% at 12,689.59 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed down 2.2% at 20,585.
On the economic front, traders had little economic data to digest on Wednesday.
Banks finished mixed. Mitsubishi UFJ rose 0.7%, but Sumitomo Mitsui declined 0.6% and Resona Holdings plunged 2.7%. Mizuho Financial closed unchanged. In the auto sector, Honda surged 5.1%, Nissan climbed 2.5% and Toyota added 2.1%, while Mitsubishi closed unchanged and Suzuki fell 0.9%.
Tech stocks close mixed, with Advantest losing 0.9%, Fanuc dropping 0.5%, Kyocera advancing 1.0%, and Matsushita Electrical Industrial gaining 0.5%. Among other major exporters, camera maker Canon rose 1.7%, electronics maker Sony advanced 0.5% and Nikon jumped 3.7%.
Lower oil prices weighed on oil-related stocks. Oil explorer Inpex Holdings plunged 3.9%, Nippon Oil dropped 1.9% and Nippon Mining Holdings plummeted 3.1%. Trading house Itochu Corp tumbled 4.9%, Marubeni slumped 6.1%, Mitsubishi Corp plunged 4.6% and Mitsui & Co shed 7.3%.
Fast Retailing gained 2.9% after the company said Tuesday that same-store sales at its Uniglo casual clothing stores in Japan rose 4.2% in August on strong sales of autumn items.
Fuji Heavy Industries rose 2.3% after reports indicated that the company will participate in the development of the Mitsubishi Heavy's regional passenger jet and may receive orders to manufacture parts.
The Chinese market closed lower for a third day on a sell-off in coal stocks. However, airlines gained on the back of a sharp fall in oil prices. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed down 28.22 points or 1.22% at 2,276.67, its lowest level in 20 months.
China Shenhua Energy fell 5.6%, Yanzhou Coal Mining shed 5.8% and Shanxi Xishan Coal and Electricity Power tumbled by the 10.0% daily limit.
China Southern Airlines rose 3.4%, and Air China and China Eastern Airlines advanced 2.0% each.
Oil refiner China Petroleum & Chemical Corp gained 1.3%, while index heavyweight PetroChina declined 0.1%.
Elsewhere:
Taiwan's Taiex closed down 1.7% at 6,584.
Singapore's STI was down 1.4% at 2,719.
Indonesia's Jakarta Composite index was down 1.8% at 2,119.
Malaysia's KLCI was down 3.28 points.
New Zealand's NZX 50 index rose 0.2% to 3,373.45.
In resource stocks-laden Sydney market, the S&P/ASX 200 index ended 1.1% lower at 5,060.
with files fronm other wire services
