LONDON (CNNfn) - Asian markets were mixed Wednesday, with economic data painting a bleak outlook for Japan, the world's second-biggest economy, and Taiwan.
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 economists 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.
 Taipei's Weighted index slumped 2.3 percent to close at a 61-month low of 4,614.63. The Council for Economic Planning and Development said it saw signs of an economic slowdown in November as strong export and manufacturing sectors that kept the economy healthy began to weaken. Acer, Taiwan's biggest personal computer maker, fell 3.2 percent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed little changed at 14,748.36, up just 10.15 points, with Sun Hung Kai Properties, the region's second-biggest property company, leading gains, while China Unicom, the mainland's second-biggest mobile phone company, tried to pull the index lower.
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.
Japanese video games company Sega surged 10.5 percent after a report said rival Nintendo was in talks to buy Sega for $2 billion. Nintendo, which denied the report, fell 4.1 percent.
Hong Kong flat
In Hong Kong, index heavyweight China Mobile, which had supported the market for most of the session, rising more than 1.9 percent, closed up just 0.2 percent. The company warned its profits would be hit by changes in China's leased-line charges. China Mobile leases most of its mobile transmission lines.
China Mobile, the mainland's biggest cellular company, said pretax profit for the first-half of 2001 would fall by 942 million yuan ($114 million) from a year earlier. China Unicom, the second-biggest mobile phone company, dropped 3.7 percent.
Banking and property stocks rose on optimism that interest rates will be lowered early in the new year. Sun Hung Kai Properties added 1.3 percent, but it too gave up early gains, and the Bank of East Asia rose 1.3 percent.
Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia 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.
In Mumbai, the benchmark BSE Sensex rose 1.3 percent, reversing a five-day losing streak.
- from staff and wire reports 
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