Stocks in Asia Pacific were mixed on Tuesday afternoon trade as gold prices dipped from their record levels.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dumped 58.43 points, or 0.3%, to 22,657.38.
Shares of Fujifilm rose 3.1% after U.S. President Donald Trump announced Monday that the U.S. government awarded the firm a $265-million contract for coronavirus vaccine manufacturing.
Shares of Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors plummeted 12.64% on Tuesday after the company said Monday that it expects to see a 140 billion yen (about $1.329 billion) loss in operating income for the year ending March 31, 2021.
One expert told the media that he expected Mitsubishi to be pulled through by its alliance with Nissan Motor and Renault. He said the latter two firms would "definitely support" Mitsubishi as the alliance has "worked very pragmatically."
Meanwhile, Nissan Motor also saw its stock drop 4.3% on Tuesday following a Nikkei Asian Review report that the firm’s automobile business runs the risk of running out of cash over the next year and a half.
Shares of other Japanese automakers also slipped, with Toyota down 1.5% while Honda shed 1.69%.
The Japanese yen traded at 105.50 per U.S. dollar following an earlier high of 105.20 against the greenback.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index regained 169.5 points, or 0.7%, to 24,772.76.
Among Korean winners, shares of industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics soared 5.4%.
The Australian dollar was at $0.7134 after touching an earlier high of $0.7176.
In other markets
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 gained 39.81 points, or 0.9%, to 4,568.26.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index recovered 7.18 points, or 0.3% to 2,582.97.
In Korea, the Kospi added 39.13 points, or 1.8%, to 2,256.99
In Taiwan, the Taiex index doffed 1.57 points to 12,586.73
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 sank 7.35 points, or 0.1%, to 11,578.27
In Australia, the ASX 200 subtracted 23.62 points, or 0.4%, to 6,020.55.
