Asian stock markets were mixed Tuesday after Wall Street fell as investors watched for signs of whether global central banks will try to cool inflation by speeding up the withdrawal of economic stimulus, the Associated Press reported. Shanghai and Hong Kong declined. Tokyo and Sydney advanced. The Shanghai Composite Index lost 1% to 3,393.90 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong sank 1.7% to 24,163.74. The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 0.3% to 27,340.40. The Kospi in Seoul lost less than 0.1% to 2,742.79, while Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 gained 1.3% to 7,199.50. India's Sensex opened down 0.6% at 57,260.54. New Zealand, Singapore and Bangkok rose while Jakarta declined. In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude lost 7 cents to $91.25 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract 99 cents to $91.32 on Monday. Brent crude, the price basis for international oils, shed 18 cents to $92.51 per barrel in London. It declined 58 cents the previous session to $92.69. The dollar gained to 115.46 yen from Monday's 115.08 yen. The euro declined to $1.1421 from $1.1442.
