Stocks were mostly higher in Asia after a bounce in crude oil
prices eased some pressure on markets from Japan to Australia.
The Nikkei Stock Average gained 1.2% and Korea was up 1.0%. Hong
Kong rose 0.9% and Australia gained 0.6%.
Selling globally abated, as crude-oil futures gained 1.5% to
$48.65 a barrel, snapping a four-session losing streak.
A rally in U.S. stocks overnight, which pushed the S&P 500
to a higher close for the first time in six sessions, also helped
stabilize Asian shares Wednesday.
Still, Toshihiko Matsuno, senior strategist at SMBC Friend
Securities, said that "concerns over Greece, the euro, and weak oil
prices are still enough to push investors into another deep
"risk-off" mood."
The U.S. dollar was up modestly, at Yen119.39, from Yen119.26
late Wednesday in New York, giving a slight lift to Japanese
exporters repatriating dollar earnings from overseas. Among the
strongest gainers, Toyota Motor Corp. was up 1.3% and Honda Motor
Co. Ltd. was up 1.6%.
The rebound excluded China's mainland, where the Shanghai
benchmark wavered near flat.
In Korea, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. rose 0.9% after it
announced strong sales of its Galaxy Note 4 smartphone-tablet
hybrid in the fourth quarter, helping mitigate a fifth-straight
quarter of decline in profits.
Write to Chao Deng at Chao.Deng@wsj.com
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