Most major Asia stock markets saw modest gains Tuesday, although the Japanese market slipped amid weakness for utility firms, and mainland Chinese shares pared recent gains. South Korea's Kospi rose 0.1%, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index and Singapore's Straits Times Index each advanced 0.4%. Chinese trading saw Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index increase 0.4%, but the Shanghai Composite Index gave up 0.5% after rising more than 1% on Monday after the release of some stronger economic data on the weekend. Taiwan's Taiex fell 0.4%, while Japan's Nikkei Stock Average lost 0.3%. Tuesday's mixed performance aside, all major Asian markets were showing gains so far in December, with the moves falling somewhere between a 0.6% advance for Tokyo and a 4.7% rise in Shanghai. “Often, the first few weeks of December are range-bound and messy," said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital. “But the fact that markets have held up through the [U.S.] fiscal-cliff negotiations and developments in Europe is a positive sign for future gains." Asia's moves came after U.S. stocks edged higher Monday, shrugging off news of a likely early election in Italy, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index hitting their highest levels since the U.S. presidential election in early November. Wall Street's gains occurred amid signs of progress in talks over the fiscal cliff of billions of dollars in upcoming U.S. tax hikes and spending cuts. Weekend statements on the negotiations released by the U.S. president and the speaker of the House were identical, “which we interpret as a positive sign that the two sides are closer to an agreement" said Yelena Shulyatyeva, economist at BNP Paribas. After the dollar slipped on Monday, New York commodity markets saw some strong performances for metal futures, with copper reaching a seven-week high, while iron-ore prices showed some strength on the global spot market. In Hong Kong, commodity-related firms were gaining, with Western Australian iron-ore-project owner Citic Pacific Ltd. , up 4.1%. Aluminium Corp. of China Ltd. rose 0.9%, while Jiangxi Copper Co. advanced 0.5%. On the downside in Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. lost 1.2% after unions sanctioned industrial action over the Christmas holiday period if the airline won't reopen talks with flight attendants over wages. Property stocks were among the worst performers Tuesday in Shanghai, with Gemdale Corp. down 1%, and Poly Real Estate Group Co. lower by 1.9%. Volatile utility firms dragged on the Japanese market, with Tokyo Electric Power Co. down 2.9%, Chubu Electric Power Co. dropping 6.1%, and Kansai Electric Power Co. tumbling 6.6%. Helping sour sentiment toward the sector, the Japanese government concluded late Monday that the Tsuruga nuclear power station operated by the unlisted Japan Atomic Power Co. — in which many of the major utilities hold ownership stakes — is likely sitting on an active fault and may be decommissioned, according to a Nikkei news report. Among the Tokyo gainers, meanwhile, Renesas Electronics Corp. rose 4.6% after the firm confirmed late Monday that it will receive up to 200 billion yen ($2.43 billion) of capital in a deal that will see a government-backed fund emerge with a near-70% stake in the loss-making technology firm. Sharp Corp. gained 2.5% after a separate Nikkei report that Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp. and Mizuho Trust & Banking Co. will lend the firm ¥20 billion, while Resona Bank is also mulling a ¥20 billion loan. The lenders' parent firms — Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and Resona Holdings Inc. — saw their shares fall 0.8% and 1.2%, respectively. In South Korean trading, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. climbed 3.7%, and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. advanced 5.5%. But chip heavyweight Samsung Electronics Co. dropped 1.1% to retreat from an all-time high hit Monday. Australian shares moved back up to a level not seen since mid October, with miners fuelling the gains after Monday's metal moves in New York. Iron-ore extractor Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. climbed 4%, diversified mining group BHP Billiton Ltd. rose 1.5%, and rival Rio Tinto Ltd. advanced 0.8%. Marketwatch
