Markets in Asia finished mixed on Tuesday, as South Korea's shares slipped after data showed economic growth slowed in the third quarter.
The Nikkei 225 Index gained 130.83 points, or 0.8%, to 17,365.25,
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong lost 38.97 points, or 0.2%, to 23,565.11
The yen retreated to the 104 handle, trading at 104.43 against the U.S. dollar as of late afternoon, compared with levels as high as 103.20 late last week.
The relative weakness in the yen likely helped major Japanese exporters rise. Shares of Toyota rose 1.4% Nissan was up 1.3% and Mazda Motor gained 2.9%. Panasonic shares retraced some of their 0.7% early gain to close up 0.2%
Japanese gaming giant Nintendo saw some reprieve from share price declines, adding nearly 3% to 24,685 yen a share following two consecutive sessions of losses as investors appeared somewhat unimpressed by the introduction of its new gaming console, Nintendo Switch, last week.
Japan's Kyushu Railway made its trading debut on the stock market, with media outlets reporting the shares were initially untraded after the market open on a glut of “buy” orders. Kyushu Railway eventually opened at 3,100 yen a share, which was 19.2% higher than the initial public offering (IPO) price of 2,600 yen
The Kospi index closed down (see below), while the Korean won slipped from levels near 1132.80 to a low of 1139.40 against the U.S. dollar after the data was released.
As of late afternoon local time, the dollar/won pair traded lower at 1133.47, after the won saw renewed strength in the afternoon session, reaching a session high of 1132.51.
Bank of Korea data showed South Korea's third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) grew by a seasonally adjusted 0.7% on-quarter, beating economists’ forecast for a 0.6% gain. But on a yearly basis, GDP grew by 2.7%, slower than the second quarter's 3.3% rise.
During the quarter, South Korea saw a massive strike at Hyundai Motor, as well as the collapse of container shipper Hanjin Shipping, which filed for court receivership on August 31.
In September, electronics giant Samsung was forced to recall shipments of its new Galaxy Note 7 handsets amid reports of the devices catching fire. In October, Samsung permanently halted production of the devices and announced it expected a more-than-$5-billion U.S. profit hit spread over second half of 2016 and first quarter of 2017.
Shares of South Korean memory chip maker SK Hynix climbed 2.2%, after the company announced third quarter earnings results for fiscal 2016. Operating profit for the July-September quarter was at 726 billion won ($640.02 million U.S.), up 60% on-quarter, but down 48% on-year.
The number, however, beat a Thomson Reuters StarMine SmartEstimate that predicted 672 billion won in operating profit.
The company said shipments increased from new smartphone launches and a better-than-expected demand for personal computers.
Australian markets moved higher, with most sectors rising. The heavily-weighted financial sector closed up 0.7%, with the country's so-called Big Four banks gaining.
Shares of ANZ gained 0.7%, Commonwealth Bank of Australia was 0.8% higher, Westpac rose 1.1% and the National Australia Bank added 0.6%.
In other markets
The CSI 300 eased 0.13 points to 3,367.45
In Korea, the Kospi slid 10.57 points, or 0.5%, to 2,037.17
The Straits Times Index in Singapore dropped 2.63 points, or 0.1%, to 2,854.05
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index hiked 63.15 points, or 0.7%, to 9,385.65
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 returned from a long weekend to gain 44.47 points, or 0.6%, to 7,002.87
In Australia, the ASX 200 moved forward 34.34 points, or 0.6%, to 5,442.83
