By Colin Ng And John Philips
SINGAPORE—Asian stocks were mostly higher Wednesday, with regional airline plays rebounding after a retreat in oil prices, while the Japanese market received a lift from machinery orders data.
Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was up 0.4%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.9% and South Korea's Kospi Composite rose 0.1%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.6%, Taiwan's main index was flat and the Shanghai Composite index was off 0.1%.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 17 points in screen trade.
April Nymex light sweet crude was down 56 cents at $104.46 per barrel, extending Tuesday's losses following reports that allies of Col. Moammar Gadhafi are debating the Libyan leader's exit.
The prospect of Western military intervention in the North African country and the possibility that the U.S. could tap strategic supplies also pressured crude-oil prices.
Airline stocks in the region benefited from oil's retreat. In Seoul, Korean Air Lines rose 1.8% and Asiana Airlines was up 2.5%, while EVA Airways gained 4.4% in Taipei and Qantas added 0.8% in Sydney. Elsewhere, All Nippon Airways advanced 1.1% in Tokyo and Air China tacked on 0.8% in Hong Kong.
Besides relief from oil's pullback, Japanese stocks were also bolstered by data showing better-than-expected January machinery orders. Investors shrugged off news of a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in northeastern Japan as initial reports suggested that there was little damage to the rural, quake-prepared region.
Japan's core machinery orders rose 4.2% month-to-month in January, outpacing December's 1.7% rise, and beating expectations for a gain of 3%.
"Today's report, along with other recent indicators, suggest business spending should continue increasing moderately in the January to March quarter, though it's still too early to say if it will accelerate," said Norio Miyagawa, a senior economist at Mizuho Research & Consulting.
Vantec was bid limit-up at 146,400 yen ($1,770) after a report that Hitachi Transport plans to buy a majority stake in the company. KDDI advanced 2.6% after announcing a capital and business tie-up with Space Shower Networks to expand its media contents business.
Toyota Motor rose 1.2%, helped by the weaker yen, but investors were focused on the "global vision," a longer-term business strategy that the auto maker plans to unveil later Wednesday.
Yaskawa Electric, Dainippon Screen Manufacturing and Dai-ichi Life Insurance rose 0.6%, 4.6% and 1.0% respectively, after Nikkei Inc. said Tuesday the shares will be added to the Nikkei 225 Stock Average on March 29.
Shares in China were lower, led by declines in coal miners and gold companies on the back of the retreat in global oil and commodity prices Tuesday.
"The correction indicates investors hesitate to chase stocks at a level above 3000 on concerns that the government may launch further tightening moves after the annual legislative meeting," said Tang Yonggang, an analyst from Hong Yuan Securities.
China Coal Energy fell 1.5% and China Shenhua Energy was 1.4% lower, while Shandong Gold-Mining and Zijin Mining fell by 1.1% each.
The Sydney stock market was dragged lower by the resources sector. Michael Heffernan, senior client advisor at broker Austock, said lower cash prices for base metals saw the mining sector hit hard, with BHP Billiton down 1.2% and Rio Tinto down 1.5%. Oz Minerals shed 2.2% after news it was buying the Carrapateena copper-gold project in South Australia.
