Mixed Picture on Asian Stock Exchanges

There were mixed tones on the major Asian stock exchanges in the initial Tuesday trading. In Hong Kong, it was gloomy, with the Hang Seng index down 1.8 percent at lunchtime.

In Japan, the important Nikkei 225 had fallen 0.2 percent, while the broader Topix index was up 0.4 percent.

The Shenzhen composite index was also up, 0.7 percent, while Shanghai's equivalent had fallen 0.1 percent.