Investing.com - Asian shares were mostly weaker on Tuesday with Sydney bucking the trend as risk concerns connected to President Donald Trump's moves to stamp a new set of policies on global trade, including a proposed border tax on imports, weighed on sentiment along with a weaker dollar.
The Nikkei 225 fell 0.32% and the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.62%. The U.S. dollar index also weakened by 0.59% to 100.18.
Samsung Electronics (KS:005930) on Tuesday posted a 50.16 percent jump in its fourth-quarter operating profit and announced a share buyback plan as it looks to move past a massive product recall of its Galaxy Note 7 handsets and alleged involvement in an ongoing political scandal in South Korea.
After the market close on Monday Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) said it has delayed closing its deal with Verizon to sell it news operations, in an announcement with its earnings that showed adjusted fourth-quarter earnings per share of 25 cents, excluding items, on revenues of $1.47 billion. Analysts expected Yahoo to report adjusted earnings of 21 cents a share on revenue of $1.38 billion.
The company said its acquisition by Verizon would close "as soon as practicable" in the second quarter of this year, due to the "work required to meet closing conditions."
In China stocks rose led by ferrous metals and oil sectors with the Shanghai Composite Index up 0.02% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gaining 0.28%.
Overnight, U.S. shares edged weaker on Monday with investors fretting that Trump could rile the global trading regime and as earnings drifting in failed to lift spirits.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.14%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.27%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.04%.
Trump addressed U.S. manufacturing executives with a repeated promise to impose a border tax on firms that import products into the United States after moving American factories overseas and announced the country had abandoned the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact among a dozen nations. Trump's promises of tax cuts adn higher federal spending continue to hold the market's attention, but details are sparse.
Trump also said Sunday he would start talks with Mexico and Canada to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Meanwhile, market participants will get back to the business of watching economic data for fresh indications on the health of the economy in the week ahead, with Friday's advanced reading for U.S. growth in the spotlight.
Besides the GDP report, this week's calendar also features U.S. data on existing home sales on Tuesday, initial jobless claims and new home sales on Thursday, followed by durable goods orders and revised consumer sentiment on Friday.
A recent string of solid data reinforced the view that the U.S. economy is sufficiently robust to warrant higher interest rates in the months ahead.