Chinese stocks broke a five-day winning streak on Tuesday, as Hong Kong and Shanghai markets both pulled back amid concerns fueled by a drop in the profit growth at major Chinese industrial companies and a previous sharp fall for China’s yuan.
At the same time, Japanese stocks advanced to one-month high, after Greek election results impacted global markets by less than expected Monday.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index piled on 299.78 points, or 1.7%, to 17,768.30
The yen headed higher against the U.S. dollar to ¥118.14, compared with ¥118.48 late Monday in New York.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index dropped 102.62 points, or 0.4%, to 24,807.28, ending a five-session win streak.
CHINA
The Shanghai CS300 index doffed 33.05 points, or 0.9%, to 3,574.93, also ending its consecutive positive session streak at five and pulling back from five-year highs.
The declines came after official data showing that profit at major Chinese industrial companies grew 3.3% year-on-year in 2014, down sharply from a 12.2% increase in 2013.
A significant drop in China’s yuan in the previous day also dented investor sentiment.
In other markets;
The Kospi in Korea recovered 16.72 points, or 0.9%, to 1,952.40
In Taiwan, the Taiex index gained 43.92 points, or 0.5%, to 9,521.59
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index regained 13.68 points, or 0.4%, to 3,412.20
New Zealand’s NZX 50 index gained 39.08 points, or 0.7%, to 5,737.73
The S&P/ASX index returned from a long weekend to gain 45.41 points, or 0.8% to 5,547.23.
