Asia mixed with Sydney and Tokyo higher and Shanghai lower (MarketWatch) (12-05-2008)

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Asian markets were mixed on Monday, as talk of mergers on the financial sector fired bank shares in Australia, while mainland China shares suffered on accelerating inflation and the possibility of central-bank policy-tightening after data showed that inflation accelerated in April.

Japanese stocks, which had been losing on exporters, recovered in the afternoon on a pullback in the yen and in crude-oil prices.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Average rose 0.6% to 13,734.30, after dropping as low as 13,540.68 earlier in the day. The broader Topix index was little changed at 1,341.84.

China's Shanghai Composite gave up more than 2%, before recovering some losses, after the government reported that the consumer price index jumped 8.5% in April from the year-ago month on soaring food prices, before recovering some losses. The index was recently down 0.5% at 3,593.96.

Singapore's Straits Times Index rose 0.3% to 3,170.06 and Taiwan's Weighted index was little changed at 8,788.97.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.5% to 5,801.60 and New Zealand's NZX 50 index advanced 0.6% to 3,620.99.

South Korean and Hong Kong markets were closed for a holiday.

Shares of other banking stocks rose sharply, with National Australia Bank surging 5.1% and Commonwealth Bank of Australia gaining 3.3%.

Among Japanese exporters, shares of Sony Corp. climbed 1.5% and Nikon Corp. added 1.1% in the afternoon, as the U.S. dollar recovered against the yen.

  Source MarketWatch