HONG KONG (AP) ? Asian stocks markets mostly posted tentative gains Friday following a mixed bag of U.S. and European economic reports and as oil prices rose to a new nine-month high.
Crude climbed above $108 a barrel and the dollar weakened against the euro but rose against the yen.
Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed 0.2 percent to 9,611.72 and South Korea's Kospi added 0.4 percent to 2,015.93. But Hong Kong's Hang Seng dipped 0.1 percent to 21,359.95.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was 0.4 percent higher at 4,303.90 and mainland China's Shanghai Composite Index was up 0.3 percent to 2,417.15. Some markets swung back and forth between positive and negative territory in early trading.
Asian investors were cautious even after U.S. stocks climbed following a report that said jobless aid applications fell to a four-year low helped.
Offsetting the optimism was a European Commission forecast that the combined economies of the 17 nations that use the euro would shrink in 2012, raising concerns that austerity programs are holding back growth. Poor economic growth in Europe would also hurt demand for goods manufactured in Asia.
"When Europe enters into a recession, it will hurt exporting economies in Asia like China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan. And so, it will be reflected in the economic growth for these countries and eventually in the earnings of the blue chip stocks," said Francis Lun, managing director at investment company Lyncean Holdings.
"So that's why investors are quite cautious now. The market has reached a peak and now it's ready to consolidate."
Another report said German business confidence rose in February for a fourth straight month, but some analysts noted that the report also highlighted disparities in growth across Europe.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average finished 0.4 percent higher at 12,984.69 and the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 0.4 percent to close at 1,363.46. The Nasdaq composite index climbed 0.8 percent to 2,956.98.
Fears over the price of crude oil ? driven higher by tensions over Iran and the weakening dollar ? were keeping Asian markets in check because of worries it could crimp the U.S. economic recovery.
Benchmark crude for April delivery was up 70 cents to $108.53 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract advanced $1.55, or 1.5 percent, to settle at $107.83 on Thursday.
In currencies, the euro strengthened to $1.3371 from $1.3337 late Thursday in New York. The dollar rose to 80.27 Japanese yen from 80.08 yen.
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