Asian equities finished mixed on Tuesday, as investors paid particular attention to Toshiba's twice-delayed earnings results and as geopolitical tensions continued to weigh.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan dropped 50.01 points, or 0.3%, to 18,747.87, as the dollar/yen slipped below the 111.00 handle.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index plummeted 173.32 points, or 0.7%, to 24,088.46
In corporate news, the Wall Street Journal reported that Foxconn has offered a $27-billion U.S. bid for Toshiba's memory chip unit. Toshiba put its NAND flash memory unit up for sale last month in a bid to cover billions in losses from its U.S. nuclear energy unit Westinghouse.
Media reports circulated that the Japanese conglomerate may file twice-delayed earnings later in the day even if auditors do not sign off. Shares of the company dropped by 2.7% to close at 223.5 yen per stock following the news, having plunged 17.2% year-to-date.
Shares of Sharp, which was acquired by Foxconn last year, were also in the red, selling off by 9.7% to end at 365 yen each. Dow Jones reported that market talk suggests Sharp may lose the race to develop the next-generation OLED screen for smartphones to South Korea's LG.
Guotai Junan Securities, the third-largest brokerage in China, debuted on the Hong Kong Exchange at a fixed price of HK$15.84 per stock, and last traded flat mid-afternoon local time. The IPO raised HK$16.5 billion ($2.12 billion U.S).
Meanwhile, Australian markets provided the sole bright spot in a sea of red. The National Australia Bank reported its measure of business confidence came in at +6 in March, a dip from +7 the previous month.
The dollar/yen traded lower at 110.67 compared to levels around 111 seen yesterday while the Australian dollar was effectively flat at $0.7501 U.S. Against the greenback, the Korean won traded at a near one-month low of 1,145.7.
Concerns over geopolitical tensions continue to build on the Korean Peninsula after the U.S. deployed a carrier strike group closer to the region.
In other markets
The CSI 300 in Shanghai regained 11.25 points, or 0.3%, to 3,516.89
In Taiwan, the Taiex index settled 50.12 points, or 0.5%, to 9,832.42
The Kospi Index in Korea gave back 9.47 points, or 0.4%, to 2,123.85
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index slid 6.7 points, or 0.2%, to 3,174.75
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 advanced 15.52 points, or 0.2%, to 7,254.38
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 16.39 points, or 0.3%, to 5,929.27
