BEIJING (AP) — Asian stocks rose Wednesday despite Wall Street losses and Japan’s declaration that its nuclear crisis is as severe as the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
Oil prices hovered near $106 a barrel in Asia as traders mulled whether higher fuel costs will undermine crude demand and stymie a two–month rally. In currencies, the dollar gained against the yen and the euro.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.2 percent to 9,577.52, despite concerns about power shortages following the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
Anxiety about Japan weighed on Asian markets early in the day following Tokyo’s announcement Tuesday that the crisis was as severe as Chernobyl. On Wednesday, the Cabinet downgraded its assessment of Japanese economic conditions due to the quake.
“There are a lot of concerns and uncertainties in and around Asia because we are very close to that nuclear plant,” said Jackson Wong, a vice president of Tanrich Securities in Hong Kong.
South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.3 percent at 2,095.36. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.2 percent to 24,026.
China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.2 percent to 3,014.15.
Asian markets shook off Wall Street’s overnight plunge, which knocked 117.53 points, or almost 1 percent, off the Dow Jones industrial average. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index and Nasdaq composite also declined.
U.S. stocks weakened after Washington reported an unexpected drop in exports and Alcoa Inc. reported disappointing sales as major American companies started reporting earnings.
Elsewhere in Asia, Sydney’s S&P ASX 200 was up 0.2 percent at 4,907.40 and Singapore’s FTSE Straits Times index rose 0.4 percent 3,150.26.
The dollar was trading at 84.06 yen, up slightly from Tuesday, but was off against the euro at $1.4473.