Asian stock markets largely moved forward Tuesday, as traders took positions ahead of the pending inflation report from Washington, and weighed valuations in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong rallied, Tokyo was nearly flat, and Shanghai slipped, while other regional exchanges mostly finished in the green.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened lower but gained through the day, finishing off a modest 0.1% as a softer yen boosted export issues.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 22.98 to 38,797.51, as losing issues outnumbered gainers 124 to 99.
Leading the upside was cosmetics house Shiseido, up 3.6%, while Renesas Electronics lost 4%
In economic news, the Japanese yen weakened against the US dollar after Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda flagged some pockets of weakness, though added that the economy was recovering, muddying the outlook on whether the central bank wil hike rates at its meeting that concludes Mar. 19.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened higher and rose to the close, finishing up 3.1% as traders speculated the corporate stock buybacks are on the rise. Pharmaceutical outfit Wuxi AppTec rose 5.6% after disclosing recent stock buybacks, on Monday.
The broad gauge Hang Seng rose 505.93 to 17,093.50, as gaining issues outnumbered losers 73 to six. The Hang Seng TECH Index gained 4.6% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index rose 8%.
Leading the upside was property developer Longfor, gaining 14.1%, while China Unicom HK lost 1.4%.
The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index trades at a modest 8.7 times earnings, one of the lowest price-earnings ratios of any major index, according to Bloomberg data.
On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.4% to 3,055.94.
On the other regional exchanges, the S. Korean KOSPI rose 0.8%; the Taiwan TWSE inclined 1%; the Australian ASX 200 inclined 0.1%; the Singapore Straits Times Index rose 0.1%, and the Thai Set was flat. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was up 0.2%.
