Asian shares were mixed on Wednesday, AP reported. Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped 2.1% to finish at 19,353.24. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 shed nearly 0.9% to 5,206.90, while South Korea's Kospi lost 0.3% to 1,817.74. Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.3% to 23,927.49 and the Shanghai Composite dipped 0.5% to 2,807.83. Benchmark U.S. crude oil surged $1.18 to $24.81 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. U.S. crude had fallen $2.45, or 9.4%, to settle at $23.63 per barrel Tuesday. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 61 cents to $32.48 on Wednesday. The dollar inched up to 108.84 Japanese yen from 108.80 yen Tuesday. The euro slipped to $1.0836 from $1.0892 .
