06:50 AM EDT, 10/23/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets were mixed on Wednesday, as traders weighed additional Beijing macroeconomic policies and Japan's coming weekend national elections.

Hong Kong and Shanghai gained ground, while Tokyo finished in the red. Other regional exchanges were also uneven with Bangkok closed on holiday.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened evenly but lost ground after that, finishing down 0.8% as caution prevailed ahead of pending elections.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 307.10 to 38,104.86 as losing issues outnumbered gainers 170 to 54.

Imaging house Konica Minolta led the upside, up 11.2%, while staffing agency Recruit fell 4.8%.

In other news, the Tokyo Metro subway system's initial public offering raised $2.32 billion, Japan's largest IPO since 2018. Tokyo Metro shares traded up from the initial price by as much as 47%, but then cooled and closed up by 6.7%.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index gained ground on reports Beijing may set up a fund to buy stocks in a bid to stabilize prices.

The broad gauge Hang Seng rose 261.20 to 20,760.15 as gaining issues outnumbered losers 56 to 24. The Hang Seng TECH Index gained 0.4% on the day while the Mainland Properties Index rose 1.9%.

Leading the upside was Xinyi Solar, gaining 12.4%, while utility holding company China Resources Power declined 6.6%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.5% to 3,302.80.

In economic news, Beijing should finance a stock market stabilization fund to buy blue-chip listed companies and exchange-traded funds, proposed the Chinese Academy of Social Science, which is affiliated with the powerful State Council, reported the South China Morning Post.

On the other regional exchanges, the S. Korean KOSPI rose 1.2%; the Taiwan TWSE declined 0.9%; the Australian ASX 200 inclined 0.1% and the Singapore Straits Times Index rose 0.4%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was down 0.2%.