Investing.com - Asian shares were mixed on Tuesday with sentiment linked to regional data sets and prospects for the Federal Reserve to move faster than expected on interest rate hikes.
The Nikkei 225 rose 1.34%, while the S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.04%.
In China, share prices fell and are heading for a first decline in eight sessions with the Shanghai Composite Index down 0.55%. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index eased 0.28%.
The yuan fell more against the dollar Tuesday after the People's Bank of China set the fixing weaker for a second session at 6.4971 compared with 6.4824.
Australia reported house price index data for the fourth quarter showed a gain of 0.2%, beating the 0.1% gain seen quarter-on-quarter.
Japan reported the manufacturing PMI provisional look for March came in at 49.1, well below 50.6 expected adn down from 50.1 in the previous month. A figure below 50 implies contraction.
Overnight, U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the Telecoms, Healthcare and Technology sectors led shares higher with Federal Reserve policymakers commenting widely.
On Tuesday, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart said that despite risks to the downside that have arisen since the beginning of the year the U.S. economy continues to grow about as he expected.
"Summing up everything that had occurred since the beginning of the year through the March meeting there had been risk developments that might tilt the balance slightly to the downside," he said at an event in Georgia, "but the key thing is that the economy continues to perform substantially on the track that I expected last December when I voted for the liftoff decision."
"The real economy data remains substantially on track," he said, adding he expects consumer spending trends here to hold up contributing to the 2% to 2.5% growth he expects and offsetting contributions from net exports and government spending.
Earlier in the day, San Francisco Fed President John Williams downplayed worries that falling market-based measures of inflation are predictive of overall U.S. price measures. Williams added that the central bank could still increase interest rates in April and June if economic data provides a backdrop for such a policy move.
Meanwhile, Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker said that U.S. inflation will likely accelerate in coming years and move toward the Fed's 2% target after the price of oil bottoms out.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.12% to hit a new 1-month high, while the S&P 500 index added 0.10%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.28%.