Shares were mostly higher in Asia on Thursday, AP reported. Japan's Nikkei 225 index gained 1.1 percent to 20,773.49 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong climbed 1.0 percent, to 27,830.43. South Korea's Kospi fell back after Samsung Electronics reported a near 30-percent drop in operating profit in the last quarter, losing 0.1 percent to 2,204.85. Australia's S&P ASX 200 gave up 0.4 percent to 5,864.70. The U.S. crude oil rose 41 cents in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange to $54.64 per barrel. It gained 1.7 percent to settle at $54.23 per barrel in New York on Wednesday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, added 59 cents to $62.13 per barrel. It had added 0.5 percent to close at $61.65 per barrel in London. The dollar weakened to 108.79 yen from 109.04 yen on Tuesday. The euro rose against the dollar to $1.1499 from $1.1479.
