Chinese shares have closed lower despite a fresh rate cut by the central bank.
The mainland's benchmark Shanghai Composite fell 1.27% to 2,927.29, after veering in and out of negative territory.
It had fallen about 16% this week, rocking global markets.
On Tuesday, China's central bank cut its key lending rate by 0.25 percentage points to 4.6% in a bid to calm stock markets after the past days' turmoil.
The
dramatic losses and volatility in China have shattered investor
confidence and led to sharp falls in Asia and the US over the past days.
European markets were down by about 1% in morning trading on Wednesday, after rallying on Tuesday.
The interest rate cut was the fifth by the People's Bank of China since November last year.
A
rate cut will make it cheaper for banks to borrow from the central bank
and will in turn make it easier for businesses and private people to
borrow money from those banks.
Analysis: Robert Peston, BBC business editor
In some ways I thought yesterday's events on markets were if anything more disturbing than Monday's global rout.
Because
if share-price gains could not hold after the significant monetary
easing by China's central bank, then mistrust about the true state of
the world's second largest economy (actually the number-one economy on
the purchasing-power-parity measure of GDP) has become very pronounced
indeed.
And another thing, the Chinese interest rate cuts will
exacerbate the phenomenon that has caused so much stress in so many
different global markets, from commodities, to foreign exchange, to
stocks and bond - the fall in the Chinese currency, the RMB, since it
was allowed by Beijing to float more freely on 11 August.
Media captionWhat can the past tell us about whether it is worth hanging onto stocks during storms like Black Monday?
The
BBC's Celia Hatton in Beijing explains that the move is aimed at a
long-term effect on the growth of the Chinese economy, rather than at
having an immediate impact on investors.
"They've already said
they are not going to intervene on a day-to-day basis in the stock
market, but they are going to focus their attention on growing the real
economy in the long term."
"They hope that this will convince
investors that the Chinese economy might be slowing down, but is not in
for a hard landing, and that this will over time convince investors and
stabilise the market," our correspondent said.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index followed Shanghai's lead for most of the day, closing 1.5% lower at 21,080.39 points.
Analysis: Carrie Gracie, BBC News China editor
The deeper problem is that now the year-long stock bubble has burst, investors are confronting the economic fundamentals.
China
has embarked on a huge transition away from its previous investment-led
growth model, and although the government warned that transition would
be painful, the pain is already far worse than it bargained for,
undermining the credibility of its 7% growth target and deepening
political unease.
A dramatic devaluation of the currency a
fortnight ago, coming on top of the summer's bungled stock market
rescue, has left Beijing looking uncertain and accident prone.
The stock market may well have further to fall.
Given
China's central role in world trade, a slowdown in the world's
second-largest economy would be likely to reverberate around the globe.
The Nikkei's gains come after a painful week for the Tokyo index, which had shed more than 8% in the past two sessions.
South
Korea's Kospi index was also in positive territory, closing 2.6% higher
at 1,894.29 points, while in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 finished
0.7% up at 5,172.80.
Overnight, European and US markets saw another session of volatile trading.
Wall Street's Dow Jones closed 1.3% down, marking the sixth consecutive day of falls for US stocks.
London's FTSE 100 index closed up 3%.
Major markets in France and Germany both gained more than 4%.
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