Australian shares slipped and Japanese stocks ended little changed on Monday, with several exporters rising to offset losses in energy sector shares.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Index skidded 0.46 points to finish Monday’s trading at 8,765.90
Many regional markets, including those in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul, were closed for Lunar New Year holidays.
The Asian moves followed gains for U.S. blue-chip stocks on Friday, with solid earnings reports from International Business Machines Corp. and Microsoft Corp. helping boost sentiment.
Exporters mostly advanced in Tokyo.
Toshiba Corp. climbed 4.3% after a report said U.S.-based contract chip maker GlobalFoundries Inc. is looking to buy a semiconductor factory in Japan, with Toshiba facilities among those in consideration.
Elpida Memory Inc. and Casio Computer Co. rose 1.7% each, while Mazda Motor Corp. added 1.6%.
Shares in Sony Corp. advanced 4%, while those of Olympus Corp. surged 8.8%, following a Diamond business magazine report which said the two firms were in the final stages of negotiations to form a capital and business alliance.
Olympus shares also appeared to benefit after Tokyo Stock Exchange said late Friday it would keep the scandal-plagued camera maker listed.
Panasonic Corp. shed 1.4% after Moody’s Investors Service cut its debt rating of the firm, as well as that of Sony, citing a strong yen and problems facing their respective television-making units.
Shares of Inpex Corp. dropped 1.8% and JX Holdings Inc. shed 2.8% as a firmer U.S. dollar weighed on crude-oil prices.
Some resource-linked stocks also dragged in Sydney.
Iron-ore producer Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. lost 3.7%, Bluescope Steel Ltd. fell 1.2% and Woodside Petroleum Ltd. dropped 0.9%.
Health-care stocks were also notable decliners. Ramsay Health Care Ltd. traded down 3.5% and Primary Health Care Ltd. dropped 2%.
The performance in Asia came amid lingering European uncertainty, after Greece failed to reach a debt-restructuring agreement over the weekend with holders of its sovereign bonds.
Greece needs to seal a deal with its private bond-holders before it can receive more financial assistance and avoid defaulting on a bond repayment due in March.
In other markets;
Markets in Taiwan, Shanghai, Singapore, Seoul and Taiwan had the day off
New Zealand’s NZX 50 Index moved doggedly forward 18.56 points, or 0.6%, to 3,295.02
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index shed 14.53 points, or 0.3%, to 4,225.10
