Asian shares were mixed in Tuesday trade as geopolitical tensions took a backseat following a failed missile test by North Korea at the weekend and as U.S. Vice President Mike Pence continues his tour of Asia.
Pence is due to meet Japanese Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso on the second leg of his 10-day tour of the region, where he is expected to focus on trade and investment issues.
The Nikkei 225 (CBOE: .NKXQ) rose by 0.64 percent, as the dollar gained against the yen after trading at a five-month low in the last session. The dollar/yen (Exchange: JPY=) traded at 109.14, off the lows around the 108 level seen in the last session. Major Japanese bank stocks were higher by more than 2 percent across the board. Nomura Holdings (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 8604.T-JP) led gains in the sector and was up by 2.22 percent.
South Korea's benchmark Kospi (Korea Stock Exchange: .KS100) index was down 0.08 percent, retracing the modest gains made earlier in the session. Korean tech stocks were among the best performers in early trade, with chip manufacturer SK Hynix (Korea Stock Exchange: 66-KR) 0.51 percent higher.
U.S. Vice President Pence had earlier visited the demilitarized zone (DMZ) in South Korea on Monday . Pence noted that U.S. "era of strategic patience" with North Korea was over and that "all options (were) on the table" when it came to Pyongyang.
"One suspects the concerns in North Korea has further to play out ... With this in mind, there will be a strong focus on next week's meeting between the Russians, the U.S. and the United Nations to discuss Syria and North Korea, although a week seems a long time in markets," IG Chief Market Strategist Chris Weston said in a Tuesday note.
In other South Korean news, former President Park Geun-hye was indicted for bribery and abuse of power yesterday.
Australia's benchmark ASX 200 (ASX: .AXJO) index fell 0.86 percent as Australian markets opened after the long Easter weekend, driven by the telecommunications and materials sub-indexes, which were down 3.17 percent and 1.83 percent, respectively.
Mainland Chinese markets opened mixed, with the Shanghai Composite (Shanghai Stock Exchange: .SSEC) down by 0.17 percent and Shenzhen Composite trading 0.043 percent higher. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index (Hong Kong Stock Exchange: .HSI) fell 0.46 percent.
In corporate news, shares of HTG Molecular Diagnostics (NASDAQ: HTGM) jumped 10 percent after it was reported the molecular profiling company had entered into a master services agreement with Japan's Daiichi Sankyo (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 4568.T-JP). Daiichi Sankyo shares were higher by 0.35 percent.