Asia markets lost some momentum on Wednesday, closing mixed, while Nintendo shares took a tumble after reports said the launch of the highly popular "Pokemon Go" app in Japan had been postponed.
The Nikkei 225 surrendered 41.42 points, or 0.3%, to 16,681.89, after reaching a six-week high on Tuesday.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index regained 209.28 points, or 1%, to 21,882.48
Nintendo shares closed down 12.6%, paring some of its more than 16% intraday tumble, but that still dwarfed the stock's more than 100% surge since the wildly popular "Pokemon Go" mobile app was released on July 6.
The Japanese yen traded at 106.09 against the U.S. dollar, with the pair off an earlier session high of 106.29. The yen has weakened considerably from levels near 100 two weeks earlier, with the market anticipating upcoming fiscal and monetary stimulus from Japan.
The Australian dollar traded at $0.7476 U.S., down from Monday's level over $0.76, which analysts attributed to fresh concerns over China.
Australian markets gained ground. Most sectors finished up, but the materials sub-index closed down 1.4%. Miners remained in focus on the broader index as they released production reports.
BHP Billiton released its production numbers for the fourth quarter and year ended June 30 and gave guidance for fiscal 2017, saying that fourth-quarter iron ore production came in at 55,626 kilo tons (KT), down 7% on-year. Copper production was at 413 KT in the fourth quarter, down 5% on-year.
For fiscal 2017, BHP said it expected between 228 metric tons (MT) and 237 MT of iron ore production, excluding production from its Samarco mine, which was the site of a major dam-burst in Brazil in 2015.
BHP shares closed down 2.9%, after narrowly missing analysts' expectations as a result of the Samarco disaster, which caused the mine to suspend operations. Other major miners were also lower, with Rio Tinto finishing down 2% and Fortescue off 1.5%
Shares of Singapore-listed agribusiness group Wilmar International tumbled 6.9% in late-afternoon trading. Reuters reported the group said it expects to report a net loss of about $230 million U.S. for the second quarter; the group also expects lower profit for the half-year ended June 30.
In other markets
The Shanghai CSI 300 fell 10.63 points, or 0.3%, to 3,237.60
The Taiex Index in Taiwan slid 27.19 points, or 0.3%, to 9,007.68
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index improved 26.2 points, or 0.9%, to 2,945.74
In Korea, the Kospi doffed 1.43 points, or 0.1%, to 2,015.46
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 added 17.83 points, or 0.3%, to 7,172.67
The ASX 200 recouped 37.47 points, or 0.7%, to 5,488.72
