OVERNIGHT

Oil was the story for most equities as Asian shares seemed to take their lead from the U.S. where the DJIA moved up 222 points on what many saw as thin volume but sold off later Wednesday as concerns about China and other emerging markets continue to hold investor attention.

The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside China surrender earlier gains, down 0.2% after hitting an eight-week low on Tuesday. Hong Kong was also down 1% and the Kospi edging0.(% lower, the two market many believe are most tied to the fate of China. The major regional shining light was the Nikkei 225 owing to a weaker yen and a stronger dollar. The index rose 0.3%.

Some investors took the theme no bad news is good news, at least for now. Data out of China remains mixed, not the stuff investors are hoping for from the globe's second largest economy and much of the world growth for some time before the 2008 meltdown began. The term sustainable recovery is now part of investor lexicons.

Reuters reported: In the currency market, the yen stayed on the defensive, following two sessions of steep declines after Japanese officials stepped up their warning about intervening to weaken the currency. The yen JPY= was trading at 108.72 to the dollar, having slipped 3 percent from its 18-month high of 105.55 set on May 3.

The dollar got broad support from comments by a top Federal Reserve official last week, which kept alive otherwise diminishing hopes of a Fed rate hike following soft U.S. payrolls data on Friday. New York Fed President William Dudley said that it was reasonable to expect the U.S. central bank would raise rates twice in 2016.

Oil prices gained some support from what's going on in Canada and Nigeria as investors try to assess those situations while gold dipped as equities staged a rally in the U.S. Some call it risk on movement in stocks.