Shares were mostly higher in Asia on Wednesday, AP reported. Japan's Nikkei 225 index climbed 0.7% to 24,031.35 and the Kospi in South Korea surged 1.2% to 2,267.25. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng jumped 1.3% to 28,355.10. The S&P ASX/200 in Sydney gained 0.9% to 7,134.60. The Shanghai Composite index recovered from early losses, picking up 0.2% to 3,060.75. India's Sensex lost 0.3% to 41,218.64. Shares fell in Malaysia but rose in Singapore and Indonesia. Benchmark U.S. crude fell 33 cents to $58.05 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It dropped 20 cents on Tuesday to settle at $58.38 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 30 cents to $64.29 per barrel. Overnight, it lost 61 cents to close at $64.59 a barrel. Gold fell $4.60 per ounce to $1,553.30. Silver fell 5 cents to $17.76 per ounce and copper fell 5 cents to $2.80 per pound. The dollar rose to 109.99 Japanese yen from 109.86 yen on Tuesday. The euro slipped to $1.1081 from $1.1084.
