Asia-Pacific stocks mostly decline as investors weigh economic concerns

SINGAPORE — Shares in the Asia-Pacific region mostly fell on Tuesday as investors weigh economic concerns.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.86% in early trade, while the Hang Seng Tech index slipped 2.26%.

Mainland Chinese markets fell. The Shanghai Composite lost 0.33% and the Shenzhen Component inched down 0.41%.

Technology investor Prosus NV will sell some of its stake in Tencent to fund a stock buyback of itself and parent Naspers, the Dutch firm said on Monday. Hang Seng heavyweight Tencent fell 5.18%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 gave up gains and was almost flat, while the Topix rose 0.25%.

In South Korea, the Kospi sat just below the flatline after rising earlier in the session, while the Kosdaq declined 0.78%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares was down 0.64%

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was 0.29% higher.

Overnight in the U.S., the major indexes fell following a major rebound on Friday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 62.42 points, or 0.2%, to 31,438.26. The S&P 500 fell 0.3% to 3,900.11, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.7%, falling to 11,524.55.

“There is a clear lack of conviction by investors with light trading volumes favoring the notion of an exhausted market, with big declines set to be recorded this quarter, notwithstanding the outsized gains logged last week,” Rodrigo Catril, a currency strategist at National Australia Bank, wrote in a note Tuesday.