HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Asian markets ended mixed Wednesday, with financial stocks leading a surge in Hong Kong and South Korea after the U.S. announced additional measures to support consumer spending and the housing sector.
Australian stocks declined as Rio Tinto plunged a day after BHP Billiton dropped its takeover bid. Japanese shares fell as exporters such as Toyota Motor Corp. lost ground on a strengthened yen, while Panasonic Corp. retreated as Goldman Sachs broke off talks with the company over its bid for Sanyo Electric Co.
Thailand shares declined as thousands of protestors, intensifying their efforts to topple Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat's government, occupied Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi international airport and forced a halt of all flights, according to reports.
"Investor sentiment is swinging from one extreme to the other. They're sometimes fearful, and sometimes they're hopeful about the stimulus packages," said Ben Kwong, chief operating officer at KGI Asia. "The market hasn't stabilized yet."
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 Average fell 1.3% to 8,213.22, and the broader Topix index gave up 1.7% to 817.22.
China's Shanghai Composite rose 0.5% to 1,897.88, after sliding for four straight sessions, and ahead of a steep 1.08% rate cut by the People's Bank of China in the lending rate to 5.58%, and a similar rate cut in the deposit rate to 2.52%.
India's Sensitive Index, or Sensex, gained 0.9% to 8,771.31 in afternoon trading.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 2.3% to 3,540 and New Zealand's NZX 50 index inched up 0.1% to 2,637.90.
South Korea's Kospi soared 4.7% to 1,029.78, Singapore's Straits Times Index advanced 1.4% to 1,677.16 by late afternoon and Taiwan's Taiex ended up 0.1% to 4,271.80.
Thailand's SET Index fell 0.8% to 388.57, with tourism-related stocks hurt by the intensified protests, while Malaysia's KLSE Composite dipped 0.8% to 853.70.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index jumped above the psychologically-important 13,000-point level to end 3.8% up at 13,369.45, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index gained 4.2% to 6,934.11.
"I think the worst of this crisis is over and we're on a slow recovery now...The market is so low that it seems it can only go up," said Francis Lun, general manager at Fulbright Securities.
BHP, Rio & Chinese steelmakers
In Sydney, shares of Rio Tinto plunged 34.3% after BHP scrapped its roughly $66 billion hostile bid for the company, saying the deal was no longer in the best interests of shareholders because the global economic downturn has led to a slump in commodity prices. See full story.
BHP Billiton shares gained 3.9%.
Shares of Chinese steelmakers advanced, with Baoshan Iron & Steel Co. shares gaining 3.9% and Wuhan Iron & Steel Co. rising 3.5% in Shanghai, while Angang Steel Co. stock jumped 6% in Shenzhen.
UOB Kay Hian analysts Foo Choy Peng and Kenneth Li wrote in a report that a BHP-Rio deal would have allowed the merged entity "to call the shots in the iron-ore talks with China even in a depressed steel maker."
They said after its aborted bid, BHP "will want to hold out the talks with Chinese mills for as long as possible to wait for an anticipated upturn in the Chinese steel market so that it doesn't need to cut the contract prices significantly."
They added that the unsuccessful bid may "ironically" benefit the three big iron-ore suppliers -- Rio, BHP and Brazil's Companhia Vale do Rio Doce -- in the near term, "although it will benefit Chinese mills in the longer term."
