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Hong Kong - Asian markets were mixed on Wednesday as bargain-buying was offset by a sell-off in New York and Europe that came in response to fresh data indicating weakness in the eurozone.
Japan's Nikkei returned from a public holiday to a stronger yen putting downward pressure on exporters.
Tokyo slipped 0.24%, or 38.45 points, to end at 16 167.45, while Sydney slipped 0.74%, or 39.9 points, to 5 375.8. Seoul added 0.33%, or 6.73 points to 2 035.64.
Shanghai rallied 1.47%, or 33.86 points, to 2 343.58 while in the afternoon, Hong Kong was 0.36% higher on hopes for fresh stimulus measures to kick-start the Chinese economy.
Suggests growth
US investors followed their European colleagues into retreat on Tuesday after a closely watched gauge of business activity in the 18-nation eurozone slipped again in September, fanning worries about the region's stuttering recovery.
The Markit Economics composite purchasing managers index (PMI) saw a second consecutive fall in September, hitting a nine-month low of 52.3 from 52.5 points in August.
A reading above 50 suggests growth and anything below points to a contraction.
"The latest PMI data are testimony to the lacklustre nature of the eurozone's economic recovery," said ING analyst Martin van Vliet.
London's FTSE 100 tumbled 1.44%, Frankfurt's DAX 30 index dropped 1.58% and the Paris CAC 40 fell 1.87%.
Those losses filtered through to New York, where the Dow slipped 0.68 percent, the S&P 500 dropped 0.58% and the Nasdaq fell 0.42%.
They also came despite a better-than-expected pick-up in HSBC's preliminary PMI for September.
Risky assets
On foreign exchange markets the dollar slipped to 108.60 yen from 108.87 yen in New York. However, while the greenback is also well down from the levels above 109 yen it hit last week it was still hovering around six-year highs.
The euro fetched $1.2849 and 139.52 yen against $1.2850 and 139.91 yen.
"Investors will be naturally averse to place bets on risky assets after an overwhelmingly negative overnight session in both the US and Europe," said Hiroichi Nishi, SMBC Nikko Securities' general manager for equities.
"But the dollar's continuing strength will help Japan stocks weather a major fall."
On oil markets US benchmark West Texas Intermediate rose 18 cents to $91.74 while Brent crude fell six cents to $96.79 in afternoon trade.
Gold was at $1 224.79 an ounce against $1 226.0 an ounce late on Tuesday.
In other markets:
-- Taipei tacked on 0.15%, or 13.59 points, to 9 098.49.
Smartphone maker HTC gained 1.14% to end at Tw$133.5 while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing was 0.41% higher at Tw$123.0.
-- Wellington rose 0.32%, or 16.73 points, to 5 258.17.
Air New Zealand was up 1.29% at NZ$1.97 and Contact Energy added 0.17% to NZ$5.92.
