Stocks in Asia-Pacific were mixed on Tuesday, with Hong Kong-listed shares of firms in the Chinese online gaming market plummeting after the activity was described as a type of “opium” by Chinese state media.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 dropped 139.19 points, or 0.5%, to 27,641.83.
The Japanese yen traded at 109.23 per dollar, stronger than levels above 109.5 seen against the greenback yesterday.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng deleted 40.98 points, or 0.2%, to 26,194.82.
By the Tuesday market close in Hong Kong, shares of Tencent in in the city plunged 6.1% while Netease stumbled 7.8% and Bilibili dropped 3.4%.
The losses came after the Economic Information Daily, affiliated with Chinese state media outlet Xinhua, published an article that expressed concern over the amount of time spent by youths on online gaming. The article, however, was deleted a few hours after publication.
In Australia, shares of Afterpay saw more gains on Tuesday, jumping 11.37%. The firm’s stock surged nearly 19% on Monday after U.S. fintech firm Square announced it had agreed to buy the buy now, pay later giant.
The Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday announced its decision to keep the cash rate unchanged at 0.1%.
The Australian central bank also stuck to plans to taper its bond buying. Many analysts in a Reuters poll had expected the RBA to delay the planned tapering of its bond buying campaign in order to maintain stimulus amid coronavirus lockdowns.
The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7394, having risen from below $0.735 yesterday.
In other markets
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 eked ahead 0.72 points, to 4,934.46.
The Kospi index in Korea added 14.1 points, or 0.4%, to 3,237.14.
In Taiwan, the Taiex index moved up 50.48 points, or 0.3%, to 17,553.76
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index lost 11.97 points, or 0.4%, to 3,149.25.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 dipped 2.47 points to 12,700.50.
In Australia, the ASX 200 subtracted 16.97 points, or 0.2%, to 7,474.48