Investing.com - Asian shares were mixed on Thursday in subdued regional trade ahead of a Federal Reserve review of rates next week.
The Nikkei 225 rose 1.95%, while the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.13% even after the National Australia Bank said first quarter business confidence came in at plus-4 from plus-5 in the fourth quarter. Current business conditions in the first quarter came in at plus-9 from plus-10.
Share prices on the Shanghai Composite rose 0.31% to 2981.82 after earlier falling. Hong Kong's Hang Seng
index was last up 1.40% to 21,532.96.
The yuan fell against the dollar on Thursday after the People's Bank of China set a weaker fixing for the first time in four sessions at 6.4803 compared
with 6.4579, or 0.35% weaker.
Overnight, U.S. stocks held onto gains on Wednesday, continuing a recent hot streak, as oil prices surged to a fresh 2016-yearly high following a smaller than expected build in domestic crude stockpiles last week.
The the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Composite index remained near their highest levels of the year and percentage points from all-time record highs. The Dow gained 42.67 or 0.24% to 18,096.27, while the S&P 500 added 7.80 or 0.16% to 2,102.40, as both indices finished with their sixth winning session over the last seven trading days. The Dow closed at its highest level since July.
On the S&P 500, four of 10 sectors closed in the green as stocks in the Energy, Financials and Health Care industries led. Stocks in the Utilities sector lagged, slumping more than 2% on the day. The NASDAQ, meanwhile, added 7.80 or 0.16% to 4,948.13, amid strong performances from Yahoo! Inc (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:YHOO) and Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:NFLX).