Asian shares traded mostly higher Tuesday, with technology stocks gaining ground around the region, while Hong Kong lost ground after disappointing earnings results from HSBC.
The Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo gained 49.78 points, or 0.5%, to 10,221.84
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong settled back 150.82 points, or 0.7%, to 20.906.11.
Australian shares were also struggling to make much headway with the fourth interest rate hike in five meetings by the nation's central bank doing little to inspire buyers.
Regional technology stocks were tracking their U.S. counterparts' gains Monday, after flash data storage products maker SanDisk boosted its first-quarter guidance, and as the Semiconductor Industry Association said January global semiconductor sales rose 47% from a year earlier.
In Tokyo, Toshiba added 1.6% and Advantest tacked on 1.7%, while in Seoul, Samsung Electronics advanced 3.4% and Hynix Semiconductor gained 2.6%.
Taiwan's Compal Electronics rose 1.5% after the company announced better-than-expected results, with fourth-quarter net profit nearly tripling from a year earlier to a record high of NT$8.03 billion.
HSBC dented the Hong Kong market, dropping 6.5% after reporting net profit of $5.83 billion U.S. for 2009, up from $5.73 billion U.S. in 2008, but below the $6.4 billion U.S. analysts expected, as bad-debt charges continued to rise.
Citigroup said the results looked like a considerable miss, even allowing for larger-than-expected reversals of fair value gains on the bank's own debt, as it was light on revenue and heavy on costs.
Shares were also weaker on the mainland, with trade cautious ahead of China's annual parliament sessions starting Friday.
Australia's shares were nearly flat after the Reserve Bank of Australia raised its cash rate another quarter of a percentage point to 4.00%, in a move expected by most economists.
Gaming concern Tatts Group fell 2.9% after securing a deal to buy NSW Lotteries Corp. as some analysts considered the A$850 million price too high. The state government accepted a binding offer to transfer the NSW Lotteries to Tatts Group, giving the gaming group an exclusive, 40-year license to conduct public lotteries, excluding Keno, throughout the state.
The RBA's hike saw a modest pullback in the Australian dollar against its U.S. counterpart -- trading at $0.8976 from $0.8999 before the decision -- as the increase was expected and as Governor Glenn Stevens' policy statement failed to provide clear-cut view on whether the bank will continue to hike over coming months.
The euro was fetching $1.3517 from $1.3559 U.S., and was at Y120.71 against the yen, from Y120.79. The dollar was buying Y89.29 compared with Y89.09.
Elsewhere:
Shanghai’s CSI 300 Index dropped 13.19 points, or 0.4%, to 3,311.24
Korea’s Kospi index returned from a long weekend to gain 20.54 points, or 1.3% to 1,615.12
Singapore’s Straits Times Index moved 1.86 points, or 0.1%, lower to 2,772.20
Taiwan’s Taiex Index gained 19.87 points, or 0.3%, to 7,597.62
New Zealand’s NZX Index improved 19.09 points, or 0.6%, to 3,183.24
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 moved up 15.40 points, or 0.3%, to 4,701.90
