Asian stocks were listless Wednesday, AP reported. Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index was less than 0.1 percent lower at 19,194.20 while South Korea's Kospi was flat at 2,163.54. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.2 percent to 24,396.26 and the Shanghai Composite index edged up 0.1 percent to 3,257.66. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.9 percent to 5,876.00. The dollar strengthened to 111.16 yen from 110.57 yen. The euro rose to $1.0815 from $1.0810. The pound fell to $1.2413 from $1.2447. Benchmark U.S. crude oil futures rose 22 cents to $48.59 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 64 cents, or 1.3 percent, to close at $48.37 per barrel on Tuesday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, climbed 17 cents to $51.59 a barrel in London.
