HONG KONG: Asian shares rose on Wednesday as dealers sought bargains after two days of big losses, although lingering concerns over Japan's nuclear crisis led to caution.
Tokyo rose 0.90 percent, or 85.92 points, to end at 9,641.18 as a weaker yen supported exporters, while Hong Kong gained 0.66 percent, or 158.66 points, to 24,135.03.
Sydney added 0.25 percent, or 12.3 points, to finish at 4,911.0 while Seoul jumped 1.56 percent, or 32.52 points, to 2,121.92.
Shanghai rose 0.96 percent, or 29.03 points, to 3,050.40.
But sentiment was tempered by Japan's decision Tuesday to raise the crisis level at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant to the same as Chernobyl in 1986, following a series of strong aftershocks from the March 11 quake.
Asian markets were sent tumbling after the tremors on Monday and Tuesday, which renewed concerns over Japan's economic outlook.
"Overall sentiment is still cautious and risk-averse," Takuya Yamada, a senior portfolio manager at ITC Investment Partners, told Dow Jones Newswires.
And Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ analyst Teppei Ino said:
"The situation in the Fukushima plant will keep drawing the market's attention."
Despite the concerns TEPCO, which operates the troubled plant, ended 11.55 percent higher at 502 yen following a report that other Japanese utilities may be called on to help the firm with compensation payments.
However TEPCO has lost around 80 percent of its closing price on March 10.
Tokyo's Nikkei index moved in and out of positive territory in the morning but jumped in the afternoon as the yen slipped.
The dollar fetched 83.97 yen in Tokyo afternoon trade, up from 83.56 in New York late Tuesday.
The euro jumped to $1.4486 from 1.4477.
The single European currency rose to 121.70 yen from 120.93.
The falling yen boosted automakers, with Toyota gaining despite announcing that it would temporarily suspend production at five factories in Europe for several days due to a parts shortage caused by last month's quake.
The automaker has previously said it would suspend all output at most of its 14 North American factories for four to five weekdays this month.
Last week it said production at its factories in Japan would restart from 18 April until 27 April at 50 percent of normal pace.
Oil staged a rebound after three straight days of losses that were caused by forecasts that crude demand would ease due to the recent spike at two-and-a-half-year highs.
This week the International Energy Agency warned that crude's recent run risked curtailing global demand for energy and posed a "real risk" of derailing the world's economic recovery.
Oil cartel OPEC on Tuesday agreed with the assessment, adding oil's prices were "out of step with the realities of supply and demand".
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, added 59 cents to $106.84 per barrel while Brent North Sea crude for May delivery gained $1.11 to $122.03.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 0.95 percent Tuesday due to the Japan crisis, a poor performance from energy plays and following worse-than-expected first quarter results from aluminium giant Alcoa.
Gold closed at $1,457.00-$1,458.00 an ounce in Hong Kong, down from Tuesday's close of $1,460.00-$1,461.00.
In other markets:
Singapore closed up 1.09 percent, or 34.08 points, at 3,172.08.
Singapore Airlines gained 4.91 percent to 14.10 and Keppel Corp added 0.80 percent to 12.60.
Taipei rose 0.55 percent, or 47.61 points, to 8,780.20.
Formosa International Hotels Corp gained 0.8 percent to Tw$505.0 and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co was 0.86 percent higher at Tw$70.7.
Manila edged up 0.10 percent, or 4.20 points, to 4,203.68.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co closed 0.51 percent higher at 2,350 pesos and Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. added 2.2 percent to 68.50 pesos.
Wellington closed 0.18 percent, or 6.09 points, higher at 3,457.63.
Fletcher Building fell 1.1 percent to NZ$9.28, Pyne Gould was up 3.6 percent at NZ$0.29 and Building Society Holdings was flat at NZ$0.70.
Jakarta rose 0.41 percent, or 15.18 points, to 3,734.41.
Kuala Lumpur ended 0.62 percent, or 9.47 points, higher at 1,535.39.
Petronas Chemicals climbed 4.4 percent to 7.36 ringgit while power firm Tenaga Nasional rose 1.6 percent to 6.17 ringgit.
Mumbai climbed 2.25 percent, or 434.32 points, to 19,696.86, snapping five days of losses on bargain hunting.
Sentiment improved on optimism over quarterly earnings growth as the reporting season starts Friday with software giant Infosys Technologies.
India's largest software outsourcer TCS rose 2.57 percent, or 30.25 rupees, to 1,208.95 while rival Infosys advanced 2.05 percent or 66.5 rupees to 3,306.
Bangkok was closed for a public holiday.
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