Market Update
Shares in Asia ended mostly in the red, as a rise in crude prices led to concerns of a slowdown in global economic growth and bogged down sentiment over equities.
At close, Japan's Nikkei, mainland China's Shanghai Composite, Hong Kong's Hang Seng and India's Sensex rose 0.2% to 1%. Australia's ASX, however, rose 0.6%.
Japan stocks started lower early amid concerns companies would took time to rebuild and attain full production after the devastating earthquake that took place one month ago.
Crude-oil prices topped the $112 per barrel mark while gold futures also rose.
Stocks on the Move
In Tokyo, heavyweight firms weighed on the index. Sony declined 1.5% after shutting down a plant. Peers Canon and Panasonic lost 1.1% and 0.5%, respectively.
Automakers Toyota, Honda and Nissan declined about 2.3% each.
In China and Hong Kong, property and financials witnessing selling: Poly Real Estate was off 2.2% in China while Bank of China erased 0.6%.
But rising commodity prices helped resource stocks with Aluminum Corporation gaining 1.7%, tracking firmer metal prices, while PetroChina jumped 3% following the spike in crude prices.
Indian stocks lost ground for the fourth consecutive day, giving up some gains from the recent rally. A largely broad-based decline, led by oil, banks and metals, resulted in the index losing about 1%, the most among key markets in Asia.
But defensive stocks such as pharmaceuticals bucked the trend with Sun Pharma climbing 2%.
In Sydney, strength in resource plays helped the market. Woodside Petroleum surged 5.5% in early trade on reports BHP Billiton was contemplating a takeover of the firm but gave up most gains after the Anglo-Australian mining company denied the rumours.
While BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto rose 3.8% and 2.4%, respectively.