Asian stock markets were mixed Thursday after Wall Street surged to its biggest daily gain since July despite uncertainty about the global outlook. Benchmarks in Tokyo, Seoul and Sydney advanced. Shanghai and Hong Kong opened higher but were in negative territory by midday. The Shanghai Composite Index was off less than 0.1% at 3,402.69 while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 1.1% to 23,502.82. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.3% to 25,042.65. The Kospi in Seoul advanced 1.3% to 2,395.44 and Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 was up 0.9% at 6,115.90. India's Sensex opened up 0.1% at 39,125.26. New Zealand and Bangkok gained while Singapore and Jakarta retreated, AP reported. Benchmark U.S. crude oil for October delivery was unchanged at $41.51 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract slid $1.25 on Wednesday. Brent crude, the basis for pricing international oils, lost 8 cents to $44.35 per barrel in London. It dropped $1.15 the previous session to $44.43 a barrel. The dollar rose to 106.28 yen from 106.16 yen on Wednesday. The euro declined to $1.1812 from $1.1855.
