Asian stock exchanges started the trading week in different directions after the US President Donald Trump announced that he plans to introduce tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
In Tokyo, both the key Nikkei 225 index and the broader Topix index fluctuated around zero at lunchtime.
It was more cheerful in Hong Kong, where the Hang Seng index climbed 1.6 percent.
The composite indexes in Shanghai and Shenzhen also got a fairly cheerful start, increasing by 0.4 and 0.3 percent, respectively.
