Shares were mostly higher in Asia on Thursday, AP reported. Japan's Nikkei 225 index lost 0.3%, to 19,298.64. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.5% to 24,100.09 and the Shanghai Composite index gained 0.5% to 2,829.30. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 picked up 2.4% to 5,331.10 and South Korea's Kospi climbed 1% to 1,825.22. India's Sensex surged 2.1% to 30,526.79. Benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 82 cents to $25.92 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange early Thursday. It gained $1.46, or 6.2%, to settle at $25.09 a barrel on Wednesday, recovering some of its 9.4% slide from the day before. Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 62 cents to $33.46 per barrel. It gained 97 cents, or 3%, to $32.84 a barrel in London. In currency trading, the dollar fetched 108.91 Japanese yen, up from 108.84 yen on Wednesday. The euro sold for $1.0858, little changed from $1.0856.
