Shares were mixed in Asia on Thursday after a wobbly day of trading yielded modest gains on Wall Street, the Associated Press reported. The Shanghai Composite index lost 1.2% to 3,199.24, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.3% to 18,904.42. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index gained 0.2% to 27,875.91. Japan reported a record trade deficit for the month of August, driven by high costs for imports of energy and other commodities and a weak yen. The Kospi in Seoul shed 0.4% to 2,401.83, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 0.2% to 6,842.90. In other trading Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude oil was unchanged at $88.48 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It jumped $1.17 on Wednesday. Brent crude, the pricing basis for international trading, slipped 24 cents to $93.86 per barrel. The dollar rose to 143.69 Japanese yen from 143.16 yen late Wednesday. The euro weakened to 99.63 cents from 99.77 cents.
