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Asian Stocks End Mixed; Nikkei Falls 0.2%

The Associated Press

BANGKOK -- Asian stocks ended mixed Wednesday as economic surveys from the U.S., Japan and China showed that recovery is going to be a long slog. Oil hovered rose above $71 a barrel.

In Japan, the central bank's "tankan" survey reflected a slight uptick in gloomy corporate sentiment. But the results were worse than expected and also showed that companies plan to cut back on capital investment, highlighting the challenges the world's second-biggest economy faces as it climbs out of its steepest recession ever.

Chinese manufacturing expanded slightly in June, two surveys showed, a sign that the world's third-largest economy is slowly rebounding from the collapse in global trade, even though few new jobs were created.

A drop Tuesday on Wall Street, where stocks were dragged down by an unexpected drop in U.S. consumer confidence, also weighed on sentiment. Many investors are counting on Thursday's release of U.S. jobs data for signals on whether recovery hopes are justified after a three-month rally in global markets.

After climbing as much as 1%, Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 18.51 points, or 0.2%, to close at 9,939.93. Australia's S&P/ASX200 index fell 2%. Hong Kong's market was closed Wednesday for a public holiday.

Among gainers, South Korea's Kospi rose 1.6% and the Shanghai Composite index advanced 1.7%.

In Japan, business executives are only slightly less pessimistic than they were three months ago. The Bank of Japan's quarterly tankan survey showed that the sentiment index at major manufacturers rose to minus 48 from minus 58 in March. The figure represents the percentage of companies saying business conditions are good minus those saying they are bad.

Stocks in London, Frankfurt and Paris were posting gains within the first hour of trading.

U.S. stock index futures were higher, indicating stocks would rise at the open in New York Wednesday.

Wall Street stocks fell Tuesday amid disappointment about a decline in consumer confidence following big jumps in April and May, as measured by the Conference Board. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 82.38, or 1%, to 8,447.00, while the S&P 500 index fell 7.91, or 0.9%, to 919.32. The Nasdaq composite index fell 9.02, or 0.5%, to 1,835.04.

After Thursday's U.S. jobs number, investors will be paying close attention in coming weeks to the second-quarter earnings reports from U.S. companies and their forecasts for the rest of the year.

Oil rose above $71 a barrel in Asia as a drop in U.S. crude inventories suggested demand may be picking up. Benchmark crude for August delivery rose $1.31 to $71.20 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In currencies, the dollar rose to 96.83 yen from 96.34, while the euro was trading at $1.4080.