Asian Equities Mixed

Asian stocks were mixed Friday, as rate cuts in Europe counterbalanced the negative lead of a fall on Wall Street.

A drop in oil prices to a nearly four-year low helped shares of energy-intensive companies.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 average was up 0.5% at 7,960.13 points in midafternoon trade. Tech companies were mostly higher, with Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ) gaining 1.1% to 1,743 yen ($18.88) and Toshiba (other-otc: TOSBF.PK - news - people ) climbing 0.7% to 301 yen ($3.26).

The automakers traded in a narrow range, with Honda Motor (nyse: HMC - news - people ) dropping 1.3% to 1,664 yen ($18.02) after it announced that it was pulling out of Formula One auto racing due to the weakening business environment. Honda said the move would save it at least 10 billion yen ($108 million) a year.

Banking stocks were soft after Goldman Sachs cut its price targets for the sector. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (nyse: MTU - news - people ) fell 5.2% to 536 yen ($5.81) and Mizuho Financial Group (nyse: MFG - news - people ) dropped 6.5% to 211,300 yen ($2,290).

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index rose 1.9% to 13,771.05 on optimism over government stimulus measures and falling energy prices. U.S. light sweet crude was trading at $44.03 on the Nymex in Asian trading hours, after closing in New York at $43.67, the lowest settlement price since January 2005.

Insurers rose smartly on expectations that they will benefit from a new policy encouraging them to invest in infrastructure. Ping An Insurance jumped 8.4% and China Life rose 4.4%.