Tokyo Rebounds, Sydney Snaps Losing Streak - Wall Street Journal

By DANIEL INMAN

Asian shares were mixed Tuesday with the Nikkei swinging between gains and losses.

After falling 0.4% against the yen on Monday, the U.S. dollar gained ground against its Japanese counterpart on Tuesday—recently at ¥101.86, compared with ¥100.94 late Monday in North America.

Japanese stocks ignored the weakness in the yen and struggled to find a direction in early trading. The market opened lower, but then moved back and forth between positive and negative territory.

The Nikkei Stock Average was recently up 0.5%.

In recent sessions, trading in Japan has been particularly volatile, ever since the Nikkei tumbled 7.3% on Thursday—the first major speed bump for a market that has rallied 65% since the middle of November.

The weaker yen did help some exporter stocks in Japan, with Honda Motor climbing 2.5% and Kyocera Corp. gaining 2.1%. The Nikkei was also helped by large constituents that recovered from heavy selling on Monday. Fast Retailing Co., the company behind the Uniqlo chain of stores, gained 1.5%.

Shares in real estate companies fell in Tokyo, coming down after strong gains on Monday. Sumitomo Realty & Development dropped 4.6% and Mitsubishi Estate lost 3.3%.

With both the U.S. and the U.K. closed for public holidays on Monday, there was little overnight news from outside of the region to influence trading in Asia.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was flat as gains in high-yielding stocks offset weakness in local miners. Telecoms company Telstra Corp. added 0.8%.

Mining stocks in Sydney were under pressure after the price of spot iron fell overnight to its lowest level in nearly six months. Rio Tinto lost 0.5% and Fortescue Metals Group declined 0.7%

South Korea's Kospi Composite was up 0.3%,

Stocks in China were little-moved, with the Shanghai Composite off 0.2% in mainland China and the Hang Seng Index flat in Hong Kong.

Markets in both China and Australia are looking ahead to the next slice of economic data to come out of the region's largest economy, with China's official purchasing managers' index scheduled to be released on Saturday. HSBC's preliminary measure for May was released last week and pointed toward a contraction in manufacturing activity, prompting a sharp selloff.

Write to Daniel Inman at daniel.inman@wsj.com