Market sentiment in Asia was dampened on Tuesday as the dollar dived on headlines related to stalled efforts to reform U.S. health care.
The Nikkei 225 returned from a long weekend to dump 118.95 points, or 0.6%, to 19,999.91
The Hang Seng Index gained 54.36 points, or 0.2%, to 26,524.94
In corporate news, Toshiba announced it would not close a deal on the sale of its memory chip unit before July 28. The company said its current aim is to complete the deal by the end of March 2018. Toshiba shares closed up 19.1%
South Korea's Samsung Electronics announced a partnership with payments platform PayPal to allow for the latter's use within the Samsung Pay system in the U.S. Users in other countries will be able to access the service "soon," Samsung said in a statement. The company's shares rose 0.4% by the end of the session.
Australian markets slipped, driven by broader losses across most sub-indexes. The heavily-weighted financials sub-index was down 1.7%
Major mining stocks in Australia closed down after trading higher earlier in the session. Diversified miner BHP slid 0.3%. Iron ore producer Fortescue Metals was off 0.2%
Rio Tinto closed lower by 1.5%. The miner announced Tuesday morning it had lowered its iron ore guidance to 330 million tons compared to an earlier range of 330 million to 340 million tons.
The Australian dollar traded at two-year highs. The Aussie dollar fetched $0.7909 U.S. Tuesday afternoon.
In currencies, the New Zealand dollar rose after sinking on news that inflation for the second quarter slowed more than expected. The Kiwi dollar traded at $0.7345 late afternoon after falling as low as $0.7261 earlier in the session.
The U.S. dollar sank on news that two additional Republican senators had opposed the Republican health-care bill. There are now four GOP senators who have voiced opposition to the bill, which is likely enough to stop it dead in its tracks: The GOP holds 52 seats in the Senate.
Against the yen, the greenback fetched 112.25 yen, off levels around the 113 handle seen the last two weeks.
CHINA
Markets also digested better-than-expected second-quarter GDP from China released Monday. The Chinese growth rate was 6.9% on year compared to the 6.8% forecast.
The CSI 300 inched up 3.62 points, or 0.1%, to 3,667.18
New home prices in China rose 10.2% on year for the month of June, compared to the 10.4% rise seen in May. On a monthly basis, June home prices rose 0.7%, comparable to the rise seen in the previous month
Chinese property developer Sunac saw its shares fall on concerns that Chinese banks were looking into its credit risk, media reports said.
Sunac is buying $9.3 billion U.S. in assets from Dalian Wanda. Sunac shares were down 7% late afternoon, having plunged more than 13% earlier in the session.
In other markets
In Taiwan, the Taiex index improved 23.72 points, or 0.2%, to 10,481.26
In Korea, the Kospi index eked ahead 0.94 points to 2,426.04
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index added 7.84 points, or 0.2%, to 3,306.08
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 gained 7.77 points, or 0.1%, to 7,707.33
In Australia, the ASX 200 drooped 68.08 points, or 1.2%, to 5,687.39
