Japanese markets closed higher for an 11th-straight session while a broader index of other Asian shares was little changed on Tuesday. Oil prices, meanwhile, held onto most gains on the back of geopolitical tensions.
The Nikkei 225 index picked up 80.56 points, or 0.4%, to 21,336.12.
The Hang Seng Index nicked up 4.69 points to 28,697.49
In Japan, most automakers and manufacturing names gained while tech stocks were mixed: SoftBank Group closed down 1% and Line declined 2.3%
In Korea, tech stocks finished the session mixed: Samsung Electronics closed up 1.6% but SK Hynix reversed early gains to close down 0.8%.
Australian markets enjoyed healthy gains with the materials sub-index adding to overnight gains and climbing 1% by the end of the day.
Major miners, banks and oil stocks notched gains in the session.
In corporate news, the falsification of product data at Japan's Kobe Steel took place for longer than the 10-year period indicated by the steelmaker, Nikkei Asian Review said. The practice had actually occurred for decades at the company, according to news sources.
Despite that, Kobe Steel shares closed up 3.1% after trading near their lowest levels in five years on Monday.
Elsewhere, Tencent Holdings Chairman Ma Huateng has sold part of his stake in the internet company, according to the Wall Street Journal. Ma raised approximately 2.1 billion Hong Kong dollars ($269 million U.S.) after he lowered his stake in Tencent to 8.6% from 8.7% Tencent stock was off 0.22% on the day.
In economic news, minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia showed policymakers were in no hurry to raise interest rates in the country just because other economies were doing so.
Singapore's non-oil domestic exports in September showed a surprise 1.1% decline compared to a year ago, according to government data.
That measured against a 12.7% gain estimated by analysts.
The U.S. dollar firmed against the Singapore dollar following the news, fetching as much as $1.3567 compared with as little as $1.3505 in the last session.
CHINA
On the mainland, markets closed narrowly mixed ahead of a highly-anticipated meeting of the Communist Party beginning Oct. 18.
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 dipped 0.38 points to 3,913.07
In the commodities patch, copper prices edged down after cracking the $7,000 U.S. per ton level in the last session. Copper prices had reached heights not seen since 2014 on Monday after China's producer price index beat expectations. The metal last traded at $7,082 U.S.
Investors are expecting a "relatively positive backdrop" in the space ahead of China's 19th Party Congress, which is set to begin Oct. 18.
In other markets
In Korea, the Kospi index gained 4.32 points, or 0.2%, to 2,484.37
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index erased 51.06 points, or 0.5%, to 10,723.15
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index moved up 5.97 points, or 0.2%, to 3,329.03
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 progressed 21.32 points, or 0.3%, to 8,112.06
In Australia, the ASX 200 climbed 42.85 points, or 0.7%, to 5,889.61
