Asia brushes off Wall Street losses; Japan rallies on weak Yen before BOJ

Asian markets went against the grain of overnight moves on US bourses, with Japanese stocks racing ahead as the yen shot lower against the dollar on Tuesday, but Chinese share markets opened with more sharp losses.

The Japanese yen fell on Tuesday ahead of the Bank of Japan's Statement on Monetary Policy, which is likely to see the central bank keep its current policy settings intact.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index rallied 1.80% to 18,288.87 points in morning trade, while Tokyo's broader Topix gauge jumped 1.76% to 1,488.15 points.

Hong Kong's benchmark Hang Seng index fell 0.38% to 21,477.26 points at the opening bell, and mainland China's benchmark Shanghai Composite plunged 1.95% to 3,054.11 points at the same time.

Korea's benchmark Kospi index edged up 0.16% to 1,934.53 points on Tuesday morning in Seoul.

The benchmark Australian S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.41% to 5,075.40 points in Sydney, with a range of different miners trading with losses.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.13% to 5,672.98 points this afternoon in Wellington.