Shares in South Korea led losses regionally in a mixed trading day for Asia Pacific stocks.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 lost 45.67 points, or 0.2%, to 23,051.08.
The Japanese yen traded at 105.54 per U.S. dollar after strengthening from levels above 106.4 against the greenback yesterday.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng gained 20.04 points, or 0.1%, to 25,637.38.
The Korean market plunged, with shares of automaker Hyundai Motor plunging 5.4%.
South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that concerns are rising over a potential "massive outbreak" of coronavirus cases. The country confirmed 246 more COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday midnight local time, according to the daily update from the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Australian markets re-strengthened on macroeconomic concerns. The Reserve Bank of Australia said there was “no need to adjust the package of measures in Australia in the current environment,” according to meeting minutes released Tuesday.
The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7236 after yesterday’s rise from below $0.72.
CHINA
The CSI 300 deducted 2.47 points, or 0.1%, to 4,812.76.
Tensions between Washington and Beijing likely continued to weigh on investor sentiment. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration announced Monday a further tightening of restrictions on Huawei, aimed at limiting the Chinese telecommunications giant’s access to commercially available chips.
That development came after Trump issued an executive order Friday forcing China’s ByteDance to sell or spin off its U.S. TikTok business within 90 days.
Media reports emerged that enterprise software giant Oracle is in talks to acquire TikTok’s U.S., Canadian, Australian and New Zealand assets. The interest from Oracle puts it at odds with Microsoft, which has been in talks to acquire the same TikTok assets for more than a month.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index subtracted 8.46 points, or 0.3%, to 2.563.09.
In Korea, markets got back at it after a long weekend, with the Kospi index shedding 59.25 points, or 2.5%, to 2,348.24
In Taiwan, the Taiex index dropped 83.97 points, or 0.7%, to 12,872.14
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 popped 176.19 points, or 1.5%, to 11,849.14
In Australia, the ASX 200 recovered 46.98 points, or 0.8%, to 6,123.36.
