HONG KONG -- Asian stock markets ended mixed Wednesday, with Chinese shares snapping a seven-session winning streak and financial stocks in some other markets retreating after recent heady gains.
Analysts were also divided as to the outlook. "Sentiment is now improving. So investors may take advantage of the profit-taking to come back into the market. I think there is more upside," said Marco Mak, head of research at Taifook Research.
But sounding a cautious note, IG Index Strategist Anthony Grech said: "There is the question of how effective the latest bailout plan from the U.S. is going to be. Looking at the market reaction in isolation Monday it seems as if it was being treated as manna from heaven, but these bailouts have proved a lot harder in the execution."
Japan's Nikkei 225 Average ended down 0.1% at 8,479.99, while the broader Topix Index gained 0.7%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 2.1% while China's Shanghai Composite fell 2% for its first decline in eight sessions. New Zealand's NZX-50 slipped 0.2%.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.8%, South Korea's Kospi Composite rose 0.6% and Taiwan's Taiex rose 2%.
India's Sensex rose 2.1% though Singapore's Straits Times Index declined 0.9%.
In Tokyo trading, Shinsei Bank shares fell 2.6% and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group slipped 0.6%, reversing some gains from earlier in the week.
Some exporters advanced, with Toyota Motor Corp. rising 1.3%, despite data showing Japan's exports plunged 49.4% in February from a year earlier, faster than a 43% decline in imports.
Nikko Citigroup analyst Tsutomu Fujita wrote in a report that Japan's public pension funds are net buyers in local equities so far this month, and may continue to increase the weighting of equities in their portfolios through the end of March.
In Sydney, shares of Rio Tinto added 1.1% after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it will not block Chinalco's US$19.5 billion investment in the miner, clearing the first hurdle for the deal.
Brambles stock sank 11.7% after it lost a PepsiCo Inc. contract to supply wooden pallets.
In Hong Kong, shares of market heavyweight HSBC Holdings dropped 4.7%, after surging nearly 10% Tuesday. Refining giant China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., also known as Sinopec, saw its stock jump 5.5% a day after the Chinese government raised domestic motor fuel prices.
"The decision this week to raise prices despite a still-lackluster economic environment shows that the Chinese government is committed to [Bejing's] fuel price reform," Moody's Economy.com economist Sherman Chan wrote in a note.
Fisher & Paykel Appliances jumped 10.3% on news it had negotiated a temporary agreement with the assembly work force and a union at its Auckland refrigeration unit. The agreement for a 35-hour working week arrangement will prevent around 60 job losses, the company said.
Malaysia's main index added 0.1%, Philippine shares gained 1.1%, Thailand's SET Index slipped 0.3% and Indonesian shares lost 1.1%.
The U.S. dollar at ¥97.61 recently, compared with ¥98.34 earlier. The euro was down at ¥131.41 from ¥132.57 earlier in the day and ¥131.60 in the U.S.
Against the dollar, the euro traded at $1.3528, from $1.3443.
Some selling had come into riskier -- and thus higher-yielding -- currencies like the Australian dollar, which had fallen below US$0.70. The aussie was recently buying US$0.6932.
"I think the path of least resistance is still over US$0.70 - there's a pretty good correlation between the Aussie and equities and risk appetite generally," said ICAP senior economist Adam Carr.
Spot gold fell 30 cents to $925.80 a troy ounce, after falling in New York.
Front-month Nymex crude oil futures were down $1.16 at $52.82 a barrel. Data from the American Petroleum Institute showed U.S. crude inventories rose by 4.577 million barrels in the week to March 20, ahead of analysts' expectations for a 1.3 million-barrel build, reflecting soft demand.
Write to V. Phani Kumar at phani.kumar@dowjones.com, Rosalind Mathieson at rosalind.mathieson@dowjones.com and Philip Vahn at philip.vahn@dowjones.com
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