Mostly up on Asian stock exchanges

The leading Asian stock exchanges largely began Tuesday's trading on a plus note.

In Tokyo, the key Nikkei 225 index had grown by 0.5 per cent around lunchtime, while the broader Topix index increased by 1.5 per cent.

Similarly, from Hong Kong, cheerful tones were heard as the Hang Seng index climbed 0.3 per cent.

Against the trend, the composite indexes in Shanghai and Shenzhen contracted by 0.4 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively.