Most major Asia markets ended higher Tuesday
The Nikkei 225 shot higher 177.66 points, or 1.1%, to 15,928.79
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong gained 63.63 points, or 0.3%, 20,504.44
The Japanese yen retreated to the 108 handle against the U.S. dollar, with the dollar/yen pair traded at 108.20 Tuesday late afternoon local time, after finishing at 107.93 in the previous session.
The yen's relative weakness on Tuesday buoyed major Japanese export stocks, with shares of Toyota adding 3.9%, Nissan gaining 3.3% and Honda up by 3.8%. A weaker yen is a positive for Japanese exporters as it increases their overseas profits when converted into local currency.
The Australian dollar traded at $0.7637 in the evening local time, after finishing at $0.7594 in the previous session. Analysts attributed the uptick in the Aussie to advances in commodity prices and improvement in risk appetite.
Australia's Big Four banks - ANZ, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac and NAB - traded up between 1.3% and 2.5%. In recent weeks, the banking stocks had come under pressure over concerns of bad debts due to their exposure to the energy and resources sectors.
Energy plays in Asia were mixed, with Santos closing down 0.5%, Woodside Petroleum ending flat and Japan's Inpex adding 2.2%.
Metal plays in the region were mixed. Mining stocks in Australia were mostly up, with major miners Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Fortescue advancing as much as 3.9%.
CHINA
The Shanghai CSI 300 index dropped 11.65 points, or 0.4%, to 3,218.45.
Mainland Chinese oil plays were mixed, with Sinopec shedding 0.5% and PetroChina closing unchanged.
Chinese metal plays were mixed, with Baoshan Steel adding 0.9%. and Aluminium Corp down 0.9%
The Chinese yuan was weaker against the American dollar, with the dollar/yuan pair trading at 6.4643.
Before market open, the People's Bank of China fixed the yuan mid-point at 6.4616, compared with Monday's fix at 6.4649. China's central bank lets the yuan spot rate rise or fall a maximum of 2% against the U.S. dollar relative to the official fixing rate.
In other markets;
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index settled 31.41 points, or 0.4%, to 8,531.18
In Korea, the Kospi index regained 10.95 points, or 0.6%, to 1,981.32
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index inched up 5.41 points, or 0.2%, to 2,814.65
New Zealand’s NZX 50 edged up 0.9 points to 6,726.01
In Australia, the ASX 200 added 44.11 points, or 0.9%, to 4,975.65
