Asia stocks hover ahead of key E.U. summit; Nikkei down 0.01%

Investing.com - Asian stocks were steady to higher on Wednesday in quiet trading as investors largely waited on the sidelines to see if an upcoming European Union summit later this week will lead to policies that better firewall and dowse the debt crisis.

Better-than-expected housing data out of the U.S. sent Asian equities tracking upward.

During Asian trading on Wednesday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 0.26%, Australia's S&P/ASX200 was up 0.49%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index was down 0.01%.

A European Union summit opens on Thursday, where the continent's leaders will work to hammer out a plan to tackle the debt crisis.

Past gatherings, however, have often ended up producing symbolic gestures to deal with the crisis as opposed to more concrete policy tools and game plans.

Meanwhile borrowing costs remained elevated on fears that Spain will run into increasingly more problems financing itself, which indicates the debt crisis continues running untreated.

In Spain, the government sold at auction EUR1.6 billion in three-month government bonds at an average yield of 2.36%, up from 0.84% in May.

The government also sold EUR1.48 billion in six-month debt at an average yield of 3.23%, up from 1.73% in May.

Meanwhile, the yield on Spanish 10-year bonds rose to 6.73%  in earlier trading, not far from the 7% level deemed unsustainable in the markets, which sent the dollar rising and the euro falling.

Germany, meanwhile, continues to reject calls to take part in financing a single bond issue backed by European countries to ease credit conditions in debt-ridden reaches of the continent.

Cyprus has said it will seek financial assistance from the European Union, while yields in Italian two-year bonds rose as well.

Meanwhile in the U.S., consumer confidence fell to 62.0 in June from 64.4 in May, well below market calls for a 63.5 reading, according to the Conference Board.

Surprising housing data out of the U.S., meanwhile, helped push Asian stocks up despite uncertainty out of Europe.

In the U.S., the Standard & Poor’s-Case-Shiller home price index fell at an annualized rate of 1.9% in April, better than expectations for a 2.5% drop.

In Hong Kong, top gainers included Tencent, up 2.33%, China Resources Power, up 1.72%, and China Merchant Holdings, up 1.70%.

In Australia, top gainers included Gindalbie Metals, up 4.00%, Seven West Media, up 3.53%, and Bathurst Resources, up 3.43%.

European stock futures indicated a lower opening.

France's CAC 40 futures pointed to a loss of 0.04%, while Germany's DAX 30 futures signaled a loss of 0.05%. Meanwhile, in the U.K., the FTSE 100 futures indicated a loss of 0.20%.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were down 0.07% while the S&P 500 futures were down 0.08%.

Later Thursday, markets will look for comments coming out of the European Union summit for guidance as to who the continent will end the debt crisis.