Asia Stocks Gain, Unfazed By NKorea Rocket Launch

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.02 percent to 13,245.45. The Standard & Poor's 500 index 0 rose 0.04 percent to 1,428.48. The Nasdaq composite index fell 0.3 percent to 3,013.81

Greece is also in focus after the country's debt management agency said a bond buyback auction had been completed.

The agency said Wednesday that the country will buy back ⿬31.9 billion ($41.5 billion) worth of its bonds, a key part of a package of measures designed to get the country's mountainous debt back to sustainable levels over the next decade.

The successful buyback deal was a major requirement before Greece could be granted a long-delayed installment of its international bailout funds. Athens expects the ⿬34.4 billion payment to be approved by its creditors Thursday.

Benchmark crude for January delivery was down 22 cents to $86.55 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 98 cents to close at $86.77 per barrel on the Nymex on Wednesday.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3061 from $1.3063 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar rose to 83.39 yen from 83.20 yen.

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