Asia markets mostly up after Wall St records

Hong Kong - Asian markets mostly rose on Tuesday following a record close on Wall Street, but concerns about Greece's long-running debt-reform talks sent the euro tumbling after a recent rally.

Another weak US indicator further dampened expectations the Federal Reserve will raise US interest rates soon, with analysts now tipping the final quarter of the year for an increase.

Tokyo climbed 0.68% to close at 20 026.38 and Seoul rose 0.34% to end at 2 120.85.

Shanghai surged 3.13% to 4 417.55 and Hong Kong gained 0.36% to end at 27 693.54.

But Sydney finished 0.77% lower, giving up 43.70 points to 5 615.50.

US investors pushed the Dow and S&P 500 to new records on Monday, thanks to a rally in Apple and multi-billion dollar acquisitions in the pharma and apparel sectors.

The Dow rose 0.14% and the S&P 500 added 0.30%, while the Nasdaq jumped 0.60%.

The gains have also been helped by the reduced expectations of a rate rise in the near future.

Disappointing data on homebuilders' confidence was the latest figure to indicate weakness in the world's top economy, following last week's soft retail sales, consumer sentiment and industrial production figures.

"Patchy US data means that the Fed is highly unlikely to begin its policy normalisation process until late in the December quarter," Matthew Sherwood, Sydney-based head of investment strategy at Perpetual, told Bloomberg News.

Euro suffers sell-off

"There has been a large upward movement in the dollar in the past 10 months and this has clearly weighed on US growth. The Fed could not possibly be convinced that the economy is on the right track until growth is above 3% for two consecutive quarters."

The dollar continues to hold up, even though the chances of a rate increase have slimmed.

On Tuesday in Asia it was at ¥119.96, compared with ¥119.97 in New York but up from ¥119.63 in Tokyo earlier on Monday.

The euro bought $1.1180 and ¥134.11 against $1.1315 and ¥135.75 in US trade. The single currency had been sitting above $1.1400 and ¥136 earlier on Monday.

The single currency's losses come after a recent rally against the dollar and yen despite Greece's ongoing woes and the European Central Bank's bond-buying programme that essentially prints money.

Talks between Athens and its creditors have so far failed to reach an agreement to overhaul the troubled country's bailout in a way that would release billions of euros to help it service its debts.

There are fears that if Greece defaults on those loans it could tumble out of the eurozone.

Late Monday Greece's To Vima daily reported a European Commission proposal to break the deadlock by next month giving it a combined €3.7bn in bailout cash in return for fiscal reforms worth 5.0 billion euros.

However, neither Athens nor the European Commission could confirm the report.

On oil markets, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for June delivery fell 64 cents to $58.79, while Brent crude for July eased 72c to $65.55.

Gold fetched $1 220.91 compared to $1 230.00 late on Monday.

In other markets:

- Thai stocks finished up 1.03% at 1 525.96.

Airports of Thailand jumped 4.55% to 299.00 baht while Bumrungrad Hospital, a popular destination for health tourism, rose 2.55% to 181.00 baht.

- Mumbai fell marginally by 0.15% to end at 27 645.53 points.

Housing Development Finance Corporation fell 2.04% to 1 237.10 rupees, while motorbike maker Hero MotorCorp rose 2.16% to 2 575.10 rupees.

- Jakarta ended up 0.60% at 5 269.37.

Indonesia-based real estate company Bumi Serpong Damai gained 1.28% to 1 975 rupiah, while television broadcaster Surya Citra Media fell 2.13% to 2 985 rupiah.

- Malaysia's main share index lost 0.76% to close on 1 809.72.

Petronas Gas plummeted 5.88% to 22.10 ringgit, followed by PPB Group, which shed 2.86% to end at 15.60 ringgit. Gaming resorts company Genting Malaysia rose 1.41% to close at 4.32 ringgit.

- Singapore fell 0.16% to 3 454.04.

United Overseas Bank rose 0.21% to Sg$24.25, while real estate developer Capitaland gained 1.98% to Sg$3.60.

- Taipei added 1.15% to 9 716.77.

Hon Hai Precision Industry closed 1.65% higher at Tw$98.4, while Fubon Financial Holding gained 3.34% to Tw$65.0.

- Wellington slipped 0.27% to 5 757.12.

Air New Zealand was down 1.18% at NZ$2.93 and Spark slipped 2.42% to NZ$2.82.

- Manila closed 0.49% lower at 7 871.31.

Universal Robina was down 0.68% at 203.60 pesos, GT Capital Holdings eased 0.56% to 1 423 pesos and Megaworld slipped 0.93% to 5.32 pesos.