Asia stocks rise; oil prices pare gains following surge

Stocks in Asia rose on Wednesday oil prices retraced some of their overnight gains.

South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.76% to close at 1,928.76 as shares of automaker Hyundai Motor jumped 1.86%. The Kosdaq index also rose 2.57% to end its trading day at 658.40.

Mainland Chinese stocks rose on the day, recovering from an earlier dip. The Shanghai composite was 0.63% higher to about 2,878.14 while the Shenzhen composite gained 1.526% to around 1,790.28. Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index advanced 1.34%, as of its final hour of trading, with shares of life insurer AIA jumping more than 2%.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.42% to close at 5,384.60.

Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index rose 0.76%.

On the economic data front, Australia’s retail sales in March rose 8.5%, according to data released Wednesday by the country’s Bureau of Statistics. That was above expectations of a 8.2% increase from a Reuters poll.

Markets in Japan and Thailand were closed on Wednesday for holidays.