Investing.com - Asian shares were mostly weaker on Tuesday with Tokyo bucking the trend and regional data sets in China weighing on sentiment.
Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.27%, while Australai's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.86%. National Australia Bank was down 1.21%. Australia reported the NAB business confidence review rose to plus-8 from plus-7 for October and the NAB business survey jumped to plus-21 from 14, a record high.
In Greater China, the Shanghai Composite dipped 0.37% and the Hang Seng index fell 0.02%. China e-commerce company JD.com on Monday announced net earnings of 1 billion yuan ($150.6 million) in the quarter ending September. That was above the 213 million yuan loss estimated in a Reuters survey.
In China, fixed-asset investment gained 7.3%, a tad weaker than the 7.4% increase seen in October on year, along with industrial production, which gained 6.2%, missing the 6.3% rise seen and retail sales up 10%, compared with a 10.4% gain expected.
Overnight, U.S. stocks finished higher as investors digested dealmaking headlines but worried about the progress on tax reforms. The Dow Jones industrial average edged up 0.07% to close at 23,439.70 while shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) tumbled 7.17%after it said it would cut dividend in half.
In a tweet, President Donald Trump suggested repealing an Affordable Care Act provision that requires most Americans to purchase insurance. Doing so would allow the top individual income tax rate to be cut to 35% with "all the rest going to middle income cuts," Trump added.
Trump's tweet added more complexity to plans to reform the U.S. tax system. There are currently two tax plans drawn up by House and Senate Republicans which have to be passed by the respective chambers before eventually being reconciled.
Ahead, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi and Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda are among those scheduled to attend a central banking conference in Frankfurt on Tuesday. Investors are likely to take note of the messaging coming out of that conference.