ASIA MARKETS: Asia Stocks Mostly Lower, But Japan Bucks Trend

By Daniel Inman

Asian markets were mostly lower on Tuesday, as Australia was weighed by further falls in mining stocks, while Japanese stocks recovered from a sharp fall in the previous session.

The Nikkei Average started the day 0.6% higher, as the market recovered from a 1.1% drop on Monday -- the index's largest daily fall in a month. The index gave up some of those gains as the session progressed, and was last up 0.5%.

Tokyo stocks were supported by a weaker yen, which stabilized after the dollar softened overnight. The greenback (USDJPY) was last trading at Yen102.03, compared with Yen101.83 late Monday in New York.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.2%, as mining companies were hit by further falls in the price of iron ore, which fell 2% to a fresh 21-month low. Rio Tinto (RIO) lost 0.9% and Fortescue Metals Group (FSUMY) was 2.7% lower.

Energy stocks in Sydney were also weighed by news that Royal Dutch Shell is selling 3.2 billion Australian dollars worth of shares in Woodside Petroleum to institutional investors, which were selling other stocks to buy into the deal -- especially in the energy sector, with Oil Search down 1.9% and Santos down 1.6%.

Also in Australia, the local currency (AUDUSD) fell to 93.62 U.S. cents compared with 94.01 U.S. cents late Monday in New York after minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia said that its accommodative stance on interest rates will be likely appropriate for some time.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's Kospi rose by 0.2%, Singapore's Straits Times lost 0.4%, and the Philippines PSEi fell by 0.6%.

In China stocks were lower, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index down 0.4% and the Shanghai Composite down 0.5%.

Trading was generally quiet, following a flat session in the U.S. overnight, as markets waited for the conclusion of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting on Wednesday, which will give an update on the direction of monetary policy in the world's largest economy.

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