Asian shares started broadly higher Wednesday as regional markets echoed gains on Wall Street from Warren Buffett’s proposal to help bond insurers, but the gains were erased later as investors couldn’t shake off persistent concerns over the health of the banking systems in the US and Europe.

Shares on the Hang Seng backed off an earlier 1.8 per cent gain to close up 0.9 per cent at 23,131.67 while the main index of Chinese shares traded in Hong Kong rose 1.5 per cent.