Japanese stocks fell in choppy trade on Wednesday as the yen broke from its fragile weakening trend against the U.S. dollar after a rebound in crude oil prices fizzled and revived demand for the safe-haven Japanese currency.
The Nikkei share average fell 1.4 percent to 15,836.36, extending early morning losses in a rollercoaster session that saw share prices fall as the yen strengthened. The retreat took some of the shine off a dramatic rebound that saw Japan's benchmark index add 7.4 percent over the past two days.
"The rally itself has been extraordinary but very thin and the failure of the yen to continue on the fairly steady path of weakening we've seen in the past couple of days has been reflected as nervousness in the Nikkei," said Stefan Worrall, director of Japan equity sales at Credit Suisse.
"It's been a very volatile two weeks and nerves are still frayed despite the fact that we're off the bottom of those extreme sessions we saw last week."
Hong Kong stocks lost ground on Wednesday as a two-day solid rally petered out, thanks in part to slumping energy shares that dragged down the market. The Hang Seng index fell 1.0 percent, to18,935.00, while the China Enterprises Index lost 1.2 percent, to 7,928.76 points.
China stocks rose again on Wednesday to a fresh three-week high, as demand for infrastructure shares helped the market maintain a rebound fuelled by economic stimulus hopes, although some analysts warned the relief rally could soon peter out.
The CSI300 index of the largest listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen rose 0.9 percent, to3,063.32, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained 1.1 percent, to 2,867.34 points.
After a sluggish performance in the morning, the indexes were lifted in afternoon trading by the infrastructure sector , which jumped over 2 percent as the government unveiled plans to invest 400billion yuan in infrastructure.
Thai
Eng