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Asian shares were mixed on Wednesday after US stocks finished broadly higher on Wall Street, erasing modest losses from a day earlier.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.2 per cent to close at 21,378.73 while the Shanghai Composite added 0.4 per cent to 3,008.58. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.6 per cent to 28,731.84.
Australia’s S&P ASX 200 edged 0.1 per cent higher to 6,136.00, according to Reuters report.
US stocks are on track to finish the quarter with solid gains at the end of this week. The benchmark S&P 500 index is up more than 12 per cent so far in 2019, an unusually strong start to a year.
The S&P 500 index gained 0.7 per cent to 2,818.46 on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6 per cent to 25,657.73, while the Nasdaq composite added 0.7 per cent, to 7,691.52.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller company stocks picked up 1.0 per cent to 1,528.17.
South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.2 per cent to 2,145.62 and the Sensex in India climbed 0.3 per cent to 38,345.90. Shares fell in Taiwan and Indonesia but rose in Singapore and Thailand.
Energy companies have been gaining as the price of US crude oil hovers near $60 per barrel. US benchmark crude added 6 cents to $60.00 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
It gained $1.12 Tuesday to $59.94 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, picked up 16 cents to $67.59 per barrel.
The dollar weakened to 110.56 Japanese yen from 110.63 yen on Tuesday. The euro fell to $1.1263 from $1.1266.