Capinco: Asian equity markets weighed down by geopolitical fears.(CNBC).

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While fresh geopolitical fears after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane sent most Asian equities lower, oil prices and some energy plays saw gains.

After initially declining in Asian trading hours, Brent and Nymex tacked on 0.2 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, after rallying as much as 3 percent overnight on news of a downed Russian jet near the Syrian border. Turkey shot down the warplane on Tuesday after Ankara claimed it entered Turkish airspace, but Moscow has rejected those claims. President Vladimir Putin called the downing "a stab in the back," and warned it would have serious consequences for the Russian-Turkish relationship.

So far, the U.S. and NATO both support Turkey's right to defend its sovereignty, according to a While House statement.

Energy plays rallied. Among Australia-listed plays, LNG jumped 8.7 percent, Santos added 5.2 percent and Woodside gained 0.9 percent. In Japan, Inpex rose 1.9 percent and Hong Kong-listed Cnooc gained 3.2 percent.

Symbol	Name	Price	Change	%Change
NIKKEI	Nikkei 225 Index	19847.58	-77.31	-0.39%
HSI	Hang Seng Index	22545.77	-41.86	-0.19%
ASX 200	S&P/ASX 200	5193.70	-32.69	-0.63%
SHANGHAI	Shanghai Composite Index	3629.91	13.80	0.38%
KOSPI	KOSPI Index	2009.42	-6.87	-0.34%
CNBC 100	CNBC 100 ASIA IDX	6661.40	-18.85	-0.28%

Asian travel-related stocks were also in focus since the downing of the plane is one in a series of recent incidents that point to an escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, with Russia bombing ISIS targets in Syria in support of President Bashar Al-Assad. In Australia, airlineQantas fell 1.1 percent, Tokyo-listed Japan Airlines shed 0.8 percent and Singapore-listed Singapore Airlines fell 1.0 percent.

Meanwhile, a mostly flat finish on Wall Street overnight added to weak sentiment in Asia. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500closed up 0.1 percent each, while the Nasdaq finished little changed.

China stocks mixed

The benchmark Shanghai Composite ticked up 0.2 percent, while theHang Seng Index slipped 0.5 percent in midday trade.

Brokerages declined despite news that China's securities regulator lifted rules implemented in July that required them to buy more shares than they sold each day for propriety trading. The rules were imposed after a months-long market rout.

"This could improve sentiment towards the Chinese market and brokers as the emergency measures during market rescue are gradually phased out," Credit Suisse said in a note Wednesday. "The notice is further supporting evidence that regulators may perceive the market has returned to normalcy, which we believe will reduce investors' concern in relation to policy risk on China brokers and improve sentiment."

But brokerage shares on the mainland still fell, with Shanghai-listedCitic Securities and Everbright Securities down 1.7 percent and 1.3 percent respectively.

In Hong Kong, Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings slipped 0.6 percent after losing a bid to buy utility firm Power Assets Holdings.

Nikkei down 0.4%

The Nikkei 225 shed the previous session's gains, with sentiment dampened by minutes of the Bank of Japan's October 30 meeting, in which members said the Japanese economy was likely to grow at a slower pace in 2017 due to sales tax hikes.

Heavyweight electronic exporters fell, with Sony and Panasonic down 2.0 percent and 1.4 percent respectively but Sharp bucked the trend to rally 3.3 percent on news that banks may forgive its loans.

Yahoo Japan declined 1.3 percent after ratings agency S&P revised the firm's outlook from stable to negative due to weak operating performance.

Kospi falls 0.2%

Seoul's Kospi traded in a narrow range despite solid gains in steel manufacturers on the back of stronger commodity prices. Posco added 0.6 percent. But car makers lost ground, with Hyundai Motor shedding 1.3 percent and Kia Motors falling 2.9 percent.

Naver, South Korea's largest internet portal, inched down 0.5 percent on news emerged the company was looking to take legal actions against Hewlett Packard over the latter's new logo.