Asian stocks mixed despite Wall Street gains

(CNN) -- Asian and Pacific markets were mixed but mostly lower on Wednesday despite modest gains on Wall Street.

Japan's Nikkei index finished the day down 0.66 percent, Australia's All Ordinaries index fell 0.85 percentage points and in Seoul, the KOSPI index slid 1.9 percent.

However, in China, the Shanghai composite was well into positive territory, showing a gain of 3.1 percent, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was down about a quarter percent.

On Wall Street Tuesday, stocks fell to within a few points of 2003 levels before bouncing back to end higher.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 1.8 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 1 percent and the Nasdaq composite ended little changed.

Stocks seesawed throughout the day, spiking after officials said the $700 billion bailout was helping and slumping after another brutal housing market report.

Homebuilders' confidence in the housing market fell to a record low in November, according to a National Association of Home Builders report released Tuesday afternoon. Confidence fell to 9 on a scale of 1 to 100, the worst its been since NAHB began tracking the index in 1985.

The collapse of the housing market and subprime mortgage fallout fed the credit crisis and exacerbated the economic slowdown.

"The report reminds us that the main problem for the economy is real estate," said Art Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co.

Stocks hit the highs of the session Tuesday after Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair told a House committee that the bailout has helped stabilize financial markets, despite the recent criticism.

After the recent dour news on the economy, investors "were probably relieved that the officials were saying something positive," said Kenny Landgraf, principal and founder at Kenjol Capital Management.

The major European markets ended Tuesday higher. London, Paris and Frankfurt were up by as much as 2 percent.

U.S. light crude oil for December delivery fell 56 cents to settle at $54.39 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest close since January 2007.

Gasoline prices dipped another 1.9 cents to a national average of $2.068 a gallon, according to a survey of credit-card activity released Tuesday by motorist group AAA. The decline marks the 62nd consecutive day that prices have decreased. During that time, prices dropped by $1.78 a gallon, or 46.3 percent.