Market Update
Asian markets traded mixed Tuesday.
The Nikkei was up 0.6%.
Chinese markets fell after hefty liquidity draining measures from the country's apex bank. The Shanghai Composite fell 1.1% while the Hang Seng gave up 1.2%.
The Sensex was down 0.7% while the All Ordinaries gained 0.4%.
The People's Bank of China withdrew a massive CNY172 billion via repurchase agreements earlier Tuesday, it said on its website.
Separately, data showed Chinese banks stepped up lending in March, issuing 1.05 trillion yuan in new yuan loans, up from 644.5 billion in February.
Earlier Tuesday in Sydney, minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia's April meeting showed the bank expects falling mining investment and weak public demand to constrain growth for some time but believes there are early promising signs in other parts of the economy.
Stocks on the Move
Fujitsu was up 1.2% while Panasonic pared gains to trade flat at the time of writing. The Nikkei reported that the two companies have agreed to set up a new company to unify their design and development operations for chips.
Bellwether Toyota was down 0.3% while Nissan gained just over half a percent.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial was up 1.5%.
Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. gained 1.9% while JFE Holdings also strengthened about the same.
Banks were lower in Hong Kong with ICBC down 0.8% and AgBank off 1.8%. China CITIC Bank fell 5.7%.
Tencent was volatile and swung to losses. Shares were down a percent after trading over a percent higher earlier in the day. Media reports said the company has received regulatory approval to set up a privately-owned bank, the first of its kind in China.
Mumbai markets returned after an extended weekend and traded lower, in line with the downbeat sentiment in the region. HDFC led losses, down 3%, followed by Tata Motors, down 2.3%.
Hindalco and M&M were off 2.1% each, respectively.
Hero MotoCorp, ITC, Bajaj Auto, SSLT, HUL, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Maruti Suzuki, Cipla, NTPC, and Tata Steel were all lower in a range between 1% and 1.6%.
Infosys gained 1.7% after the company reported results that beat expectations. Cross-town rival Wipro gained 1.9% while Mumbai-based TCS shares were up 1.3%.
Aussie stocks were up with banks WBC, NAB, CBA, and ANZ all up about half a percent each.
Rio Tinto traded flat even as it reported a fall in first-quarter iron-ore shipments.