HONG KONG: Asian stock markets mostly rose on Wednesday as Shanghai shares started to recover from jitters caused by a weekend interest rate hike and firm oil prices lifted energy stocks.
Tokyo's Nikkei index ended the session up 0.50 percent, or 51.91 points, at 10,344.54, Shanghai's Composite Index gained 0.68 percent, or 18.54 points, to reach 2,751.53 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended up 1.54 percent, or 347.57 points, at 22,969.30.
However Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 index ended the session down 0.18 percent, or 8.7 points, at 4,768.6.
Chinese property developers led the gains in Shanghai, with Gemdale up 3.9 percent after falling 6.5 percent over the previous two sessions and RiseSun Real Estate Development gaining 4.3 percent after a 12.2 percent drop over the same period.
However the index was still nearly three percent down from the start of the week following the second interest rate hike in less than three months, intended to cool surging inflation.
"Today's gains are only a technical rebound. The market may stay weak on uncertainties over property tightening measures and the inflation outlook," Zhang Xiang, an analyst at Guodu Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.
Sydney's stock index, which is particularly sensitive to China's economy, was weighed down by resource giants Rio Tinto and BHP, which fell 1.02 percent and 1.28 percent respectively. However rare earths developer Lynas Corp saw its shares leap after China slashed its export quotas for the lucrative metals.
Chinese energy stocks were providing support in Hong Kong, with CNOOC gaining 2.56 percent and PetroChina up 2.25 percent.
And Japanese energy stocks such as Inpex and Showa Shell Sekiyu gave Tokyo a lift.
Oil prices slipped slightly but the decline was likely to be limited as demand for heating oil is expected to stay firm due to the cold spell gripping the United States and Europe, analysts said.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for February delivery, sank eight cents to 91.41 dollars per barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for February was down eight cents at 94.30 dollars.
US blue chip stocks hit fresh two-year highs on Tuesday thanks to a strong performance from the energy and utilities sectors, despite disappointing data on US consumer confidence and continued weakness in the housing market.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.18 percent, while the broader S&P 500 index was up 0.08 percent and the energy-light NASDAQ slipped 0.16 percent.
The dollar fell back against the euro following an earlier buy-up of the greenback prompted by a rise in US bond yields after a lacklustre sale of the US five-year notes.
The euro rose to 1.3124 dollars in Tokyo afternoon trade against 1.3116 dollars in New York late Tuesday. The single European currency was flat at 108.00 yen.
The dollar fell to 82.27 yen from 82.43 yen.
Gold closed at 1,407.00-1,408.00 US dollars an ounce in Hong Kong, up from Tuesday's close of 1,390.00-1,391.00.
In other markets:
-- Singapore rose 0.76 percent, or 24.21 points, to 3,207.91.
Singapore Airlines climbed 1.43 percent to 15.58 Singapore dollars and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp rose 0.2 percent to 9.96.
-- Manila rose 0.85 percent, or 35.32 points, to 4,199.31.
Conglomerate Alliance Global Group Inc. was up 3.14 percent at 12.48 pesos while Megaworld Corp. rose 0.8 percent to 2.52 pesos.
-- Wellington fell 0.11 percent, or 3.59 points, to 3,325.62.
Fletcher Building closed down 0.3 percent at 7.73 New Zealand dollars, while Telecom Corp slipped 1.8 percent to 2.18.
-- Taipei slipped 0.05 percent, or 4.41 points, to 8,866.35.
Electronic goods maker Hon Hai fell 1.28 percent to 115.5 Taiwan dollars, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation was down 0.42 percent at 70.6.
-- Seoul rose 0.50 percent, or 10.17 points, to 2,043.49, boosted by strong gains in construction and retail stocks.
-- Jakarta rose 1.07 percent, or 39.22 points, to 3,699.22.
Coal producer Bukit Asam jumped 3.0 percent to 22,650 rupiah, Bank Negara rose 4.1 percent to 3,850, while food producer Indofood leapt 1.0 percent to 4,875.
Cement maker Indocement fell 0.6 percent to 16,200 rupiah.
-- Kuala Lumpur rose 0.45 percent, or 6.90 points, to 1,524.34, led by gains in plantations stocks.
Tradewinds Plantation rose 10.0 percent to 3.41 ringgit, gaming group Genting added 1.60 percent to reach 11.16, while budget airline AirAsia fell 0.80 percent to 2.56.
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