Asian stock markets were mostly higher Tuesday as investors looked ahead to minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest meeting and Wall Street prepared to reopen after a three-day weekend, AP reported. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 advanced 0.7 percent to 18,379.63 and the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.3 percent to 3,249.01. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.1 percent to 24,181.31 while Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 shed 0.2 percent to 5,782.90. Seoul's Kospi gained 1 percent to 2,106.19 and benchmarks in New Zealand and Jakarta also rose. Singapore and Manila declined. Benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 25 cents to $54.03 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract advanced 3 cents on Monday to close at $53.78. Brent crude, used to price international oils, shed 2 cents to $56.16 in London. It gained $23 cents on Monday to $56.18. The dollar gained to 113.63 yen from Monday's 113.37 yen. The euro declined to $1.0582 from $1.0609.
