Asia's leading stock exchanges went in different directions in a situation where investors are trying to assess a world characterized by potential escalations in the war in Ukraine, Donald Trump's imminent inauguration and the US central bank's view on interest rates.
In Tokyo, the important Nikkei 225 index had fallen 0.4 percent at lunchtime and the broader Topix index also 0.4 percent.
Hong Kong was only slightly less gloomy when the Hang Seng index contracted 0.1 percent.
It was more cheerful in Shanghai and Shenzhen, whose respective composite indexes rose 0.5 and 1.2 percent respectively.
