China

The Chinese mainland stock markets closed down on Wednesday.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lost 13.63 points, or 0.85 pct, at 1590.92. While the Shenzhen share Index inched down 24.11 points, or 0.58 pct to close at 4141.32.

Hong Kong share prices closed off their lows in a volatile trading session as investors picked up some oversold stocks in late trade after a strong rebound on the Japanese market, dealers said.

The Hang Seng Index closed down 41.92 points or 0.26 pct at 15,822.64, off a low of 15,673.75 and high of 15,930.17.

Turnover was 35.98 points.

Japan

The Nikkei average posted its biggest one-day percentage gain in more than 2 months on Wednesday, rising 1.97 percent as shares of Toyota Motor Corp. and other leading firms rebounded as investors bet stock prices had fallen too far.

The Nikkei finished up 308 points at 15,907.20, its biggest one-day percentage gain since March 9.

The TOPIX index finished up 1.69 percent at 1,606.01.

Australia

Australian stocks rose, snapping a four-day decline. Mining shares such as BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto Group rebounded after copper prices jumped by the most ever following a recent slump.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index added 23.9, or 0.5 percent, to 5037.7 at the 4:15 p.m. close in Sydney. About 10 shares rose for every nine that fell. The benchmark is recovering from a 6.5 percent drop the past eight days, its worst slump since the period following the terrorist attacks in the U.S. in Sept. 2001.

And the broader All Ordinaries Index gained 0.58 percent or 28.7 points to close at 4,995.