AKIPRESS.COM - Asian stocks were mostly higher Wednesday, except for Japan where the main index tumbled on a rise in the yen, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

The Nikkei 225 of the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 1.8 percent at 14,340.44. The dollar was trading just below 102 yen, down from about 104 yen a month earlier, which if sustained could hurt sales at export reliant companies.

Other markets rebounded after Wall Street broke a three-day losing streak.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.1 percent to 22,843.94 and South Korea's Kospi added 0.1 percent to 1,994.34. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.2 percent to 5,474.90. Markets in Southeast Asia also rose.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 rose 0.4 percent to 1,851.96. The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 0.06 percent to 16,256.14. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.8 percent to 4,112.99.

Benchmark U.S. crude for May delivery was down 22 cents at $102.35 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained $2.12 to $102.56 on Tuesday because of renewed unrest in eastern Ukraine and a lowered domestic production forecast from the U.S. Energy Department.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3793 from $1.3796 late Tuesday. The dollar rose to 101.97 yen from 101.90 yen.