Asian stocks mixed at close following North Korea nuclear test

Asia's primary stock benchmarks closed on mixed footing after North Korea announced it carried out an underground nuclear test.

In defiance of international bans, the nation went ahead with the test and was identified by an earthquake detected in the country and later confirmed by the government.

This is the third such test the nation has carried out since 2006 and could mean the country is a little closer to developing a nuclear warhead small enough to be mounted on a long-range missile with the potential to hit the west coast of the US, according to reports.

United Nations general secretary Ban Ki-moon called the test "deplorable", particularly as Pyongyang has defied international calls to abandon the programme.

KCNA, the North Korean official news agency, commented that the responses to the test had been "outrageous" and undermined the regime's right to peacefully launch satellites.

At close of play today, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose by 1.9 per cent to 11369.1 points and the Shanghai SSE Composite rallied to 2432.4 points, but South Korea's Kospi fell by 0.3 per cent.

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