Stock market today: Asian shares are mixed after a rebound on Wall Street

Shares are mixed in Asia after several strong profit reports helped Wall Street claw back most of its sharp losses from day before

BANGKOK -- Shares were mostly higher in Asia on Friday after several strong profit reports helped Wall Street claw back most of its sharp losses from day before.

Benchmarks fell in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sydney and Bangkok but rose in Tokyo and Mumbai. U.S. futures fell while oil prices advanced.

Japan's core inflation rate fell to 2.5% in November from 2.9% a month earlier as energy costs eased, the government reported. The decline, if it augurs further weakening of prices, might counter expectations that the central bank will tighten its lax monetary policy in coming months.

Bank of Japan officials have indicated they want to ensure inflation is sustained near a 2% target level and that wages are also rising before adjusting the central bank's longstanding minus 0.1% benchmark interest rate.

“Nonetheless, it would be wrong to conclude that inflationary pressures are now firmly on the decline,” Marcel Thieliant of Capital Economics said in a commentary. With global inflation waning, “weakening in underlying inflation largely reflects the pass-through of falling import costs which is weighing on price rises of processed food products and other industrial products,” it said.