Asian stocks steadied on Tuesday as investors shrugged off concerns about Greece's debt situation and waited for cues from another emergency meeting of Eurozone finance ministers scheduled later in the day to discuss the fallout from Greece's bailout referendum.
With Greece's finance minister Yanis Varoufakis resigning and the leaders of France and Germany leaving the door open for further negotiations, it is expected that Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the new finance minister, Euclid Tsakalotos will table fresh proposals to leaders at the summit.
While Australian and Japanese shares led the region's gains, a further sell-off in Chinese equities and tumbling oil prices weighed on investor sentiment elsewhere across the Asia-Pacific region.
Chinese stocks fell sharply as investors grew increasingly skeptical about what government can do to arrest the selling frenzy, which some market watchers fear could turn into a bubble down the road. The benchmark Shanghai Composite index fell as much as 5 percent during the day before recouping most of its loss to end the session down 48.79 points or 1.29 percent at 3,727.12.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 260.97 points or 1.03 percent to 24,975.31, extending Monday's 3 percent slide, as investors fretted over Greece's debt woes and the heightened systemic risk in China's leveraged stock markets.
Japan's Nikkei average closed up 264.47 points or 1.31 percent at 20,376.59 after tumbling over 2 percent on Monday in a knee-jerk reaction to Greece's 'No' vote to bailout conditions. The broader Topix index rose about 1 percent to close at 1,637.23. Financials were back into action, with banks Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial rising about 1 percent each, while Tokio Marine Holdings advanced 2.7 percent.
Utility Tokyo Electric Power soared 6.9 percent and Kansai Electric Power climbed 5 percent. Among top exporters, Hitachi, Nikon, Panasonic, Mazda Motor, Kyocera and Sharp Corp rose 1-2 percent, aided by a weak yen as risk aversion subsided. Honda Motor slid 0.4 percent on a Nikkei report that it will abandon its ambitious fiscal 2016 sales target of selling 6 million cars worldwide.
Australian stocks saw a relief rally after the outcome of the Greek referendum drew only a muted reaction on Wall Street overnight. The RBA's rate decision came in line with expectations, offering further support to sentiment. Leaving the cash rate unchanged, the board judged that its policy was appropriate for the time being to foster sustainable growth and inflation consistent with the target.
The benchmark S&P ASX/200 index jumped 106 points or nearly 2 percent to close at 5,581.4, its biggest single-day gain in five months, despite low prices for oil and other commodities.
Lender National Australia Bank advanced 2.2 percent after reaffirming its intentions to divest its troubled Clydesdale subsidiary in the UK by the end of 2015. Commonwealth rose 1.6 percent, ANZ gained 2.6 percent and Westpac rallied 3.4 percent. Big miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto rose about 1 percent each despite iron ore prices slumping to a three-month low overnight. Gold miner Newcrest added 1.6 percent.
Energy stocks also closed mostly higher despite U.S. crude oil prices plunging nearly 8 percent to end at a more than two-month low in overnight trading, pressured by heightened fears of Greece's exit from the euro zone, the continuing Iranian nuclear talks and worries over weaker demand from China, one of the world's largest consumers of raw materials.
In economic releases, activity across Australia's construction sector contracted at a faster rate in June, the latest survey from the Australian Industry Group showed with a Performance of Construction Index score of 46.4, down from 47.8 in May.
Seoul shares fell in cautious trading, dragged down by pharmaceutical and cosmetic companies on expectations of weaker earnings growth in light of the recent MERS outbreak. The benchmark Kospi average fell 13.64 points or 0.66 percent to finish at 2,040.29. Shares of Samsung Electronics rose 0.8 percent despite the tech giant's earnings guidance falling short of expectations for the second quarter.
New Zealand shares regained some lost ground following a sharp sell-off in the previous session amid Grexit fears. The benchmark NZX-50 index rose 26.56 points or 0.46 percent to close at 5,803.17 after falling over 1 percent on Monday. Summerset Group Holdings paced the gainers on the exchange, rising 4.8 percent to $3.71, after the country's third-largest listed retirement village operator said it expects annual earnings to rise as much as 39 percent, driven by record sales. Rival Ryman Healthcare and Metlifecare both rose over 1 percent.
In economic news, New Zealand's business confidence dropped to its lowest level in nearly three years in the second quarter due to softening demand conditions, the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research's quarterly survey of business opinion showed.
Elsewhere, Indonesian and Taiwanese shares were little changed, India's Sensex was down 0.3 percent and Malaysia's KLSE Composite index was moving down 0.2 percent, while Singapore's Straits Times index was marginally higher.
Taiwan's consumer prices fell for the sixth consecutive month in June but the drop was slower than what economists had expected, official figures showed.
U.S. stocks fell on Monday, a day after Greek voters rejected austerity measures proposed by the country's international creditors in a weekend referendum. On the economic front, a report showed that activity in the U.S. services sector grew at a slower pace than expected in June after dropping to a 13-month low in May. The Dow and the tech-heavy Nasdaq dropped about 0.3 percent each, while the S&P 500 shed 0.4 percent.
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Market Analysis
April 10, 2026 16:21 ET Inflation data from the U.S. was the main data event this week as the conflict in the Middle East continue. The minutes of the latest Fed policy session and the survey data on the services sector also made headlines. In Europe, manufacturing orders data from Germany was in focus. Price data from China drew attention in Asia.