06:40 AM EDT, 06/18/2025 (MT Newswires) -- Asian stock markets turned in a choppy Wednesday, as vacillating media reports on Middle East turmoil churned risk sentiments.

Tokyo finished in the green, Shanghai tread water and Hong Kong fell back. Other regional exchanges were also mixed.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened evenly but rose to the close, finishing up 0.9% as traders evaluated modest easing in crude oil and gold prices.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 348.41 to 38,885.15, as gaining issues outnumbered losers 174 to 50.

Leading the upside was game-maker Nintendo, up 6.6% to strike a fresh all-time high, while Nippon Steel declined 2.4%.

In economic news, foreign visitors to Japan in May rose 21.5% from a year earlier to 3.7 million, an all-time record for the month, reported the Japan National Tourism Organization.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened lower and could not recover, finishing off 1.1% as traders weighed Middle East tensions.

The broad gauge Hang Seng fell 269.61 to 23,710.69 as losing issues outnumbered gainers 71 to 12. The Hang Seng TECH Index lost 1.5% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index fell 2.3%.

Leading the upside was aluminum producer Chin Hongqaio, gaining 3.4%, while Li Auto declined 4.1%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite was steady at 3,388.81.

On the other regional exchanges, the S. Korean KOSPI rose 0.7%; the Taiwan TWSE added 0.7%; the Australian ASX 200 lost 0.1%; the Singapore Straits Times Index retreated 0.3%, and the Thai Set declined 1.7%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was down 0.2%.

In economic news, Bank Indonesia announced it would leave interest rates unchanged, at the close of a two-day policy session.