Most Asian indexes came out in the green Tuesday, after seesawing much of the day, as the U.S. presidential election drew near.
Aside from election jitters, China's trade figures and Australia's NAB business survey also dampened risk sentiment.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan eased back 5.83 points at 17,171.38,
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong gained 108.07 points, or 0.5%, to 22,909.47
The yen weakened from levels of around 103 last week to trade at 104.40 against the dollar as of late afternoon Tuesday, after gaining strength on Monday in Asia.
In other news, Japan's Brother Industries jumped 7.4% to 1,980 yen per share, after it raised its operating profit outlook for the year ending March 2017 by 13.4% to 55 billion yen ($526.67 million U.S.) because of cost-cutting measures.
Incitec Pivot was trading down 1%, at A$2.96 a share, after the explosive chemicals and fertilizer maker reported a 26% fall in annual underlying profit from a year ago. The firm also warned that it expects markets for its key products to remain soft in 2017.
Samsung Electronics' stock was up 0.2% to 1,644,000 won. On Tuesday morning, news broke that South Korean prosecutors raided the electronics giant's offices, as part of the influence-peddling investigation involving President Park Geun-hye.
Australian bourses enjoyed but marginal gains, after initially trading up more than 0.3%. The index was supported by strength in its materials sub-index, which rose 1.4%, and its energy sub-index, which gained 1.5%. However, gains were capped by weakness in its financials sub-index, which was 0.6% lower.
Australia's monthly NAB business survey of more than 500 companies found that business conditions in October softened.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia share fell 0.6% to A$72.07 a share, after it posted flat first-quarter cash profit. The Australian lender attributed the result to margin pressures from higher funding costs.
The Australian dollar traded at $0.7701 against the greenback as of late afternoon, after heading as high as 0.77255 during the U.S. Monday session.
CHINA
The CSI 300 in Shanghai tacked on 14.53 points, or 0.4%, to 3,371.12
China's dollar-denominated exports declined 7.3% year-on-year in October, an improvement compared to September's 10% fall, while dollar-denominated imports slipped 1.4%
Beijing also reported China's foreign exchange reserves for October fell by $45.7 billion to $3.121 trillion U.S., the biggest decline in nine months, official data showed late Monday.
The yuan was trading at 6.7762 against the dollar as of late afternoon Tuesday, after the People's Bank of China set Tuesday's yuan midpoint fix at 6.781, after it last closed at 6.7769.
In other markets
In Korea, the Kospi closed up 5.8 points, or 0.3%, at 2,003.38
The Straits Times Index in Singapore added 19.29 points, or 0.7%, to 2,820.24
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index hiked 27.59 points, or 0.3%, to 9,217.43
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 moved up 22.09 points, or 0.3%, to 6,894.36
Australia's ASX 200 improved 6.99 points, or 0.1%, at 5,257.79
