Japanese stocks sold off in a mostly positive Asian session on Tuesday, weighed by fresh strength in the yen after media reports suggested the government's highly anticipated stimulus package may not live up to expectations.
The Nikkei 225 slumped 237.25 points, or 1.4%, to 16,383.04
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index improved 136.29 points, or 0.6%, to 22,129.73
In Japan, the Nikkei business daily reported Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government was looking to inject six trillion yen ($56.7 billion U.S.) into direct fiscal outlays into the economy over the next few years. The amount was double what was initially planned, the paper said, adding it would be announced as early as August 2.
The Japanese currency jumped, with the U.S. dollar-yen pair trading at 104.12, down from levels above 107 last week.
Japanese export stocks came under pressure, with Toyota shares closing down 2.5%, Nissan down 2.3%, and Canon shares off 2.8%
On the earnings front, Japanese consumer electronics maker Canon released its earnings after market close. The camera and printer maker said for the quarter through June, operating profit fell 35% on-year to 68.6 billion yen, missing the 81.9-billion-yen average of five analyst estimates
Canon also cut its forecast for group operating profit for the year through December, from 300 billion yen to 265 billion yen.
South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor also announced earnings, where the company said its second-quarter net profit was at 1.66 trillion won, compared to 1.7 trillion won a year ago. Hyundai shares closed up 0.4%
Shares of memory chip maker SK Hynix dropped 1.4%, after media reports that the company's April-June profit was 453 billion won ($397 million U.S.), the lowest since the first quarter of 2013 and matching analysts' estimates from a Thomson Reuters survey.
South Korean shares likely received a boost from better-than-expected growth print for the second quarter.
Data released by the South Korean central bank showed the country's real gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.7% on-quarter in the second quarter of 2016, in line with a poll of economists.
On-year second quarter GDP growth was 3.2%, compared with market expectation for a 2.9% increase.
In other markets
The Shanghai CSI 300 vaulted 38.7 points, or 1.2%, to 3,269.59
The Taiex Index in Taiwan recovered 33.12 points, or 0.4%, to 9,024.79
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index eked up 3.59 points, or 0.1%, to 2,933.44
In Korea, the Kospi jumped 15.02 points, or 0.8%, to 2,027.34
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 swooned 6.92 points, or 0.1%, to 7,310.40
The ASX 200 gained 3.91 points, or 0.1%, to 5,537.47
