Asian equities were subdued on Tuesday with investors focused on key regional events unfolding in the day, including a presidential election in South Korea and the release of the Australian federal budget.
The Nikkei 225 surrendered 52.7 points, or 0.3%, Tuesday to close at 19,843
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index ballooned 311.12 points, or 1.3%, to 24,889.03
Meanwhile, shares of embattled Japanese conglomerate Toshiba closed 4.5% higher at 251.7 yen a share. The move in share price came after the company rebutted Western Digital's claim that Toshiba had breached a joint contract in its attempt to sell its memory chip arm.
In Hong Kong, the suspension in the trade of China Huishan Dairy Holding shares was extended by regulators. Shares of the troubled company plunged 85% in March this year.
South Koreans take to the polls today to choose a new leader after the ouster of former President Park Geun-hye on bribery charges. The front-runner in the election is Moon Jae-in from the liberal Democratic Party of Korea. Polls show that Moon has secured 38% of support from decided voters among a total of 13 candidates
The move lower in Australian indexes was driven by the financials sub-index, which experienced a 2.4% drop.
Down Under, banks traded lower due to reports of a bank tax that could be included in the budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 that was to be released today. Commonwealth Bank fell 3.9%, ANZ was off by 2.6% and Westpac was down 3.5%.
Citibank analysts retained a sell rating on Westpac, which reported solid half-year profits yesterday.
Meanwhile, the Australian dollar continued its slide against the U.S. dollar, off the $0.74 handle seen last week. The Aussie last traded at $0.7341.
The greenback also bucked a three-day losing streak against the Korean won, with the dollar fetching 1,136.23 won.
Over in Singapore, OCBC reported net profits for Q1 gained 14% on year. Shares of the bank were higher by 1.1%
In other markets
Shanghai’s CSI 300 dipped 6.28 points, or 0.2%, to 3,352.53
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index lost 21.77 points, or 0.2%, to 9,915.48
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index gained 12.99 points, or 0.4%, to 3,249.97
Markets in Korea are closed today.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 docked 14.34 points, or 0.2%, to 7,412.13
In Australia, the ASX 200 dropped 30.99 points, or 0.5%, to 5,839.90
