Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed on Tuesday, as logistics firm ZTO Express soared in its Hong Kong debut.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 added another 27.48 points, or 0.1%, onto Monday’s rally, to finish Tuesday at 23,537.10.
Shares of Japan’s Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) fell 2.9%, with the firm announcing Tuesday a buyout of its wireless unit, NTT Docomo. Shares of NTT Docomo soared 15.8% on Tuesday.
The move by NTT could spark a period of mobile price cuts, as new Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga called on wireless carriers to reduce prices. Shares of NTT Docomo’s mobile peers, Softbank Corp and KDDI, both fell 4.1% each on Tuesday.
The Japanese yen traded at 105.65 per U.S. dollar after touching an earlier high of 105.33 against the greenback.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng dropped 200.52 points, or 0.9%, to 23,275.53.
By Hong Kong’s market close on Tuesday, shares of logistics provider ZTO Express jumped more than 9% from the offer price of 218 Hong Kong dollars ($28.13 U.S.) per share. The firm is the latest U.S.-listed Chinese company to debut in the city.
In coronavirus developments, the global death toll from the pandemic crossed the one-million mark, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. About half of the world’s Covid-19 fatalities were reported in just four countries — the U.S., Brazil, India and Mexico, according to Hopkins data.
The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7095 following levels below $0.705 seen yesterday.
In other markets
The CSI 300 gained 9.89 points, or 0.2%, to 4,591.80.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index slumped 11.4 points, or 0.5%, to 2.471.61.
In Korea, the Kospi advanced 19.81 points, or 0.9%, to 2,327.89.
In Taiwan, the Taiex index eked higher 4.97 points to 12,467.73.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 fell 60.2 points, or 0.5%, to 11,742.09.
In Australia, the ASX 200 docked 0.26 points to 5,952.06.
