HONG KONG, Feb 22: Asian markets were mixed on Friday with bargain-hunting offset by a weak lead from Wall Street and gloomy data out of the eurozone.

The euro and dollar rebounded slightly against the yen after suffering big losses in the past few days, while traders were casting an eye to a general election in Italy at the weekend.

Tokyo shed earlier losses to end up 0.68 per cent, or 76.81 points, at 11,385.94, Sydney jumped 0.76 per cent, or 38.0 points, to 5,018.1, and Seoul added 0.18 per cent, or 3.67 points, to 2,018.89. Shanghai ended down 0.51 per cent, or 11.79 points, at 2,314.16 and Hong Kong lost 0.54 per cent, or 124.23 points, to end at 22,782.44.

Gold was at $1,579.80 at 1030 GMT, compared with $1,568.41 late on Thursday.

In other markets: Taipei fell 9.74 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 7,947.72. TSMC fell 1.4 per cent to Tw$105.5 while smartphone maker HTC was 0.36 per cent lower at Tw$278.0.

Manila closed flat, edging down 2.35 points to 6,665.06. SM Investments fell 0.58 per cent to 1,017 pesos while BDO Unibank dropped 1.74 per cent to 90.40 pesos.

Wellington climbed 1.06 per cent, or 44.18 points, to 4,214.60. Fletcher Building added 1.5 per cent to NZ$8.68, Trade Me gained 1.7 per cent to NZ$4.31 and Telecom surged 3.9 per cent to NZ$2.29.

Singapore closed up 0.02 per cent, or 0.53 points, at 3,288.13. Agribusiness group Wilmar International shed 1.36 per cent to Sg$3.63 and property developer Keppel Land dropped 1.42 per cent to Sg$4.17.

Jakarta closed up 0.40 per cent, or 18.72 points, at 4,651.12. Carmaker Astra International ended up 0.65 per cent at 7,800 rupiah, Bank Negara Indonesia rose 1.16 per cent to 4,375 rupiah, and miner Aneka Tambang dropped 0.78 per cent to 1,280 rupiah.

Bangkok added 0.74 per cent, or 11.39 points, to 1,540.13. Supermarket operator Siam Makro jumped 3.46 per cent to 478.00 baht, while food and beverage company Minor International rose 5.21 per cent to 25.25 baht.

Kuala Lumpur climbed 0.50 per cent, or 8.03 points, to close at 1,622.08. UEM Land Holdings rose 2.7 per cent to 2.28 ringgit while IOI Corp was up 2.7 per cent at 5.03 ringgit. YTL Power International fell 1.3 per cent to end at 1.52 ringgit.

Mumbai edged down 0.04 per cent, or 8.35 points, to 19,317.01. India’s Jet Airways fell 5.81 per cent to 527.35 rupees. Anglo-Dutch food giant Unilever’s Indian arm Hindustan Unilever fell 2.6 per cent to 455.4 rupees.—AFP