Tokyo, Japan (BBN)-Asian stocks were mixed on Wednesday despite getting a strong lead from Wall Street as the markets took a break from the previous session's rally.
The Dow Jones and S&P 500 indexes climbed over 1 per cent, starting the month with gains overnight, reports BBC.
But Japan's Nikkei 225 index was down 0.3 per cent to 19,959.12 after it breached the key 20,000 level for the first time since August on Tuesday.
Chinese shares continued to head higher despite disappointing factory data.
The Shanghai Composite was up 0.4 per cent to 3,469.89, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.3 per cent to 22,456.13 in early trade.
The markets had ended higher on Tuesday despite manufacturing surveys showing that factory activity continued to shrink in November.
Australia grows faster
Australian shares were lower despite third quarter growth figures coming in above expectations on rising exports.
The economy grew 2.5 per cent in the three months to September from a year ago, compared with 1.9 per cent in the previous quarter and above forecasts of 2.4 per cent.
But investors seemed to ignore the positive economic data with the S&P/ASX 200 index down 0.1 per cent to 5,261.80.
South Korea's benchmark Kospi index was lower by 0.3 per cent to 2,018.75 as data showed that imports rose faster than exports in the export-driven economy.
Exports in October rose a seasonally adjusted 1.6 per cent from September, while imports jumped 6.1 per cent.
BBN/SK/AD