LONDON (CNNfn) - Asian markets were mixed Wednesday, on another slide in the Nasdaq market and industrial data from Japan showing the economy is slowing.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 average slipped 26.36 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 13,981.49, led by chipmaker NEC Corp and Nissan Motor.
"It doesn't look like the U.S. market's past the worst yet," said Yutaka Nakai, executive officer of Investment Strategy at Daiwa Asset Management.
"To make things worse, Japan's fundamentals are looking a bit cloudy again. The only hope is that investors realize the market's simply oversold."
Wednesday's industrial production data showed industrial output fell 0.8 percent in November from the previous month, worse than the average forecast of a 0.2 percent rise, according to economist polled by Reuters.
In the currency market, the yen slumped to a 16-month low against the dollar and close to a 10-month low against the euro in Tokyo as the weak data deepened pessimism about the outlook for the Japanese economy.
The yen stood at ¥114.05 against the U.S. dollar in late Japanese trading, after hitting a low of ¥114.35, while the euro slipped to ¥106.41 compared with ¥105.73 in late U.S. trade Tuesday.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 38 points, or 0.3 percent, to 14,786.0, with China Mobile, the mainland's biggest cellular operator, and Sun Hung Kai Properties, the region's second-biggest property company, leading gains.
In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 32.6 points, or more than 1 percent, to 3,228.6. Woolworths, Australia's largest grocer, rose 1.9 percent and computer retailer Harvey Norman jumped 3.2 percent on hopes Christmas spending will prove a boon for retailers.
Japanese stocks decline
In Tokyo, technology stocks were among the decliners after the tech-laden Nasdaq composite index fell for the eighth time in 10 sessions. Electronics parts manufacturer TDK dropped 5 percent, NEC Corp, the world's second-largest chipmaker behind Intel (INTC: Research, Estimates), dipped 1.4 percent and the country's biggest personal-computer maker Fujitsu declined 1.1 percent.
Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, Japan's biggest phone company, lost 1.3 percent and its mobile phone unit, NTT DoCoMo, slid more than 4 percent.
Autos stocks skidded. Nissan Motor slid 2.3 percent and Mazda Motor declined 1 percent after the Japan Automobile Manufacturing Association estimated exports fell about 5 percent in November.
In Hong Kong, China Mobile rose 1.9 percent on news that China would cut leased-line charges from January. China Mobile leases most of its mobile transmission lines.
Banking and property stocks rose on optimistic that interest rates will be lowered early in the new year. Sun Hung Kai Properties added 2.3 percent and global HSBC Holdings
Singapore and Malaysia were closed for the Muslim Eid holiday, while Korea's stocks closed for the year on Dec. 26 with the Kospi nursing a 51 percent decline since 1999.
- from staff and wire reports 
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