Market in Asia were mixed.

The Nikkei rose .8% to 9,723. Shares in Sony (SNE) dropped slightly.

The Hang Seng was down .5% to 19,406. China Mobile (CHL) and China Unicom (CHU) dropped.

The Shanghai Composite rose 2.7% to 3,297.

At the open in Europe, the FTSE was up .2% to 4,490. The Dax rose .1% to 5,101. The CAC 40 was up .2% to 3,303. BHP Billiton (BHP) iron-output was short of estimate.

Data from Reuters and MarketWatch.

Douglas A. McIntyre