Asian markets were mixed on Thursday, AP reported. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index dropped less than 0.1 percent to 22,269.66 and South Korea's Kospi lost 1.2 percent to 2,312.88. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.1 percent to 28,377.87 and the Shanghai Composite in mainland China shed 0.6 percent to 2,797.74. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.3 percent to 6,214.80. Southeast Asian indexes were mostly lower. Oil futures settled down after rallying on a report that showed U.S oil inventories dropping more sharply last week. Benchmark U.S. crude fell 30 cents to $72.46 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained $2.23 to settle at $72.76 per barrel on Wednesday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell 19 cents to $77.27 in London. The dollar rose to 110.29 yen from 110.20 Japanese yen in late trading Wednesday. The euro eased to $1.1555 from $1.1557.
