ASIA MARKETS: Asian Markets Shake Off Wall Street's Woes, Post Gains

Hyundai powers Kospi, banks provide lift in Australia

Stocks started Tuesday on stronger footing in Asia after a U.S.-led decline Monday.

Wall Street stocks overnight dropped again as technology shares continued to underperform, though the sector's losses were less severe than on Friday.

Korea's stock market rebounded after the benchmark Kospi index fell 1% Monday, its biggest decline in three months. The Kospi was up 0.3%, aided by Hyundai Motor's (005380.SE) 2% gain.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.6% as investors returned from Monday's holiday. Equities there were lifted by the country's big banks, which had been beaten down for more than a month by concerns over a fresh tax on lenders' liabilities as well as economic growth. Their shares were roughly 1.5% higher Tuesday.

Investors are looking to this week's monetary-policy meeting in the U.S., where another interest-rate increase is anticipated.

"People that are not looking to get out of stocks are moving money elsewhere (in other sectors)" out of technology, said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney. That money is circling into "old" sectors like banking and energy, he said.

Japan stocks lagged behind in early trading but the dollar's rebound against the yen in Asian trading Tuesday, briefly moved the Nikkei into positive territory. The index was recently off 0.1%, with Inpex (1605.TO) and Japan Petroleum (1662.TO) rising more than 1% as Brent crude oil futures rose up 0.4%.

Tech-heavy stock indexes in Taiwan and Shenzhen were modestly higher with the Taiex up 0.2% and the Shenzhen Composite Index up 0.4%.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 12, 2017 23:03 ET (03:03 GMT)