Asian Stocks End Mixed; Nikkei Falls 0.2%

By Malcolm Foster

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.