Asian stocks close Thursday with mixed figures

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) — Asian indices closed Thursday with mixed figures, as concerns eased on the possibility of a banking crisis in the US and the EU.

Over the last two weeks, lenders from SVB in the US to the Swiss Credit Suisse suffered damage as many feared wider turmoil in the banking sector.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, rose 0.28% to 3,383.14 points as of 1056 GMT.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 lost 0.36% to close at 27,782.93 points.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong exchange, increased 0.58% to 20,309.13 points.

China's Shanghai Stock Exchange was also up by 0.65% to close at 3,261.25.

India's Sensex benchmark increased 0.6% to close at 57,960.09.

The Singapore index dropped 0.16% to end the day at 3,257.18 points.