Stocks in Asia were mixed on Tuesday, as Wall Street slipped overnight and amid geopolitical tensions between Saudi Arabia and the international community.
The Greater China markets lost their earlier gains to land in negative territory. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slipped by 0.23 percent in afternoon trade. The shed 0.85 percent to close at around 2,546.33, while the Shenzhen composite fell by 1.929 percent to end the trading day at about 1,256.37.
China's consumer inflation in September rose 2.5 percent compared to a year ago and 0.7 percent higher than August, government data on Tuesday showed. Producer inflation however cooled from gains of 4.1 percent in August — an indication of slowing economic momentum amid escalating trade tensions with the U.S.
Meanwhile in Japan, the advanced by 1.25 percent to close at 22,549.24, while the Topix index also saw gains of 0.74 percent to close at 1,687.91. Shares of Softbank bounced by 3.62 percent following yesterday's tumble.Â
South Korea's Kospi closed largely flat at 2,145.12.
The ASX 200 also advanced by 0.56 percent to close at 5,869.9, with most sectors trending higher. The heavily weighted financials subindex saw gains of 0.55 percent with major banks trending higher — Australia and New Zealand Banking Group was higher by 0.47 percent, Commonwealth Bank of Australia gained 0.21 percent while National Australia Bank (NAB) advanced by 0.55 percent.
NAB had announced additional costs of 314 million Australian dollars ($224 million), which will go toward refunding customers who were overcharged. Australia's largest financial institutions have been under the spotlight after an inquiry exposed large-scale wrongdoing across the entire sector.
Overnight on Wall Street, the major indexes saw declines, led by tech, continuing from their overall trend last week. The slipped by 0.6 percent to close at 2,750.79 while the Nasdaq Composite fell by 0.9 percent to end the trading day stateside at 7,430.74. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also shed 89.44 points to close at 25,250.55.
Saudi King orders probe
Meanwhile, the controversy surrounding missing Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi remained in focus, with markets concerned about the possible impact it could have on oil prices.
In oil markets during the afternoon of Asian trade, prices fell in the afternoon of Asian trade after seeing gains earlier. The global benchmark Brent crude futures contract decreased 0.38 percent to $80.47 per barrel, while the U.S. crude futures contract fell 0.47 percent to $71.44 per barrel.
Khashoggi, a prominent critic of the Saudi administration, was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Saudi Arabia's King Salman has ordered an internal investigation, in collaboration with a Turkish team, regarding his disappearance amid an international outcry.
"The Saudi and Turkish leaderships are likely to contain the crisis in bilateral relations triggered by the disappearance of Khoshaggi," said analysts from Eurasia Group in a note.
"Following days of heightened tensions, King Salman sent to Ankara a senior delegation that was likely headed by his personal envoy Khalid al Faisal," they said. "The effort behind the scenes is focused on avoiding a diplomatic crisis between the two countries and has succeeded in finding a pathway to deescalate tensions."
Currencies
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, was at 95.156 in the afternoon, after sliding from levels above 95.3 yesterday.
The was at 112.11 against the dollar, losing much of its gains from yesterday, while the was at $0.7119 after rising from the $0.71 handle in the previous session.
— CNBC's Huileng Tan and Reuters contributed to this report.