HONG KONG ? Asian markets were mixed Wednesday despite a strong Wall Street lead after a much-needed batch of good figures from the United States pointed to a brighter outlook for the world's biggest economy.

Figures from the US on Tuesday provided some respite from recent woes with prices on the rise and an increase in industrial production, suggesting a pick-up in activity.

However, wider concerns about the global economy pressured sentiment, while Australian trade was hurt by news of a blow to index giant BHP Billiton.

Tokyo rose 0.86 percent, or 78.86 points, to 9,240.54 as traders remained upbeat that the government will soon unveil measures to stem the economy's recent slowdown and address the yen's strength.

Singapore was up 0.16 percent and Seoul gained 0.40 percent, or 6.96 points, to 1,761.99.

Wall Street provided impetus for Wednesday's trade, with the Dow adding 1.01 percent, snapping a five-day losing streak.

US markets were lifted after Washington announced that the July producer price index -- the measure of prices that businesses pay for their goods -- rose in line with expectations of 0.2 percent, the first rise since April.

The increase was mostly on the back of higher food and energy prices.

After stripping out food and energy, the so-called "core" prices for finished goods were up 0.3 percent in July, the largest increase since January.

A rise in prices is good news for the US economy, which derives a huge percentage of its gross domestic product from consumer spending.

That was coupled with figures showing industrial production recovered last month after falling for the first time in a year in June. Output rose a better-than-expected 1.0 percent. Most forecasts had been for a 0.6 percent jump.

Sydney ended flat, losing 2.1 points to 4,474.9 with mining giant BHP Billiton weighing in the index on news that it had been knocked back after making a 38-billion-US-dollar bid for Canadian fertiliser group Potash Corp.

Heavyweight BHP ended 4.4 percent lower, although rival Rio Tinto was up 2.8 percent and Santos added 2.6 percent as investors switched to other resource stocks.

"That's just a reflection of just how much weight they (BHP) have in this market," said Burrell Stockbroking analyst Daniel Manley.

Hong Kong was 0.19 percent lower by the break and Shanghai fell 0.18 percent.

Investors have been spooked in recent weeks after the United States said it expects its economy to take longer to completely recover from recession and would provide fresh stimulus, while Japan grew at a slower pace than expected.

The dollar stood at 85.41 yen in Tokyo morning trade, slightly down from 85.47 yen in New York Tuesday.

The euro was at 1.2842 dollars, down from 1.2881 in New York. The single currency fetched 109.69 yen, off an earlier 110.10.

Oil was lower, with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for September delivery, down 24 cents to 75.52 dollars a barrel in afternoon trade.

Brent North Sea crude for delivery in October tumbled 19 cents to 76.74 dollars.

Gold opened at 1,224.50-1,225.50 US dollars an ounce, down from Tuesday's closing price of 1,226.00-1,227.00 dollars.

In other markets:

-- Taipei edged down 6.99 points to 7,924.10.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co was 0.33 percent lower at 59.6 Taiwan dollars while design house MediaTek was up 0.22 percent at 457.0.

-- Manila rose 0.93 percent, or 32.57 points, to close at 3,534.80.
The index finished at its highest level since January 2008.
Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. added 0.1 percent to close at 2,402 pesos while Filinvest Land rose 6.3 percent at 1.19 pesos.

-- Wellington rose 0.39 percent, of 11.63 points, to 3,018.18.
Fletcher Building added 2.2 percent to close at 7.34 New Zealand dollars and Telecom added 0.5 percent to 2.08 but casino operator Sky City shed 0.4 percent to 2.88.