Asia markets mixed as earnings season stateside kicks into high gear

Mainland Chinese shares were lower in early trade, with the Shanghai composite slipping more than 0.2 percent and the Shenzhen component falling around 0.5 percent. The Shenzhen composite also declined 0.623 percent.

Shares on the mainland had fell in Monday’s session following a South China Morning Post report that Beijing could refocus on structural reforms instead of offering stimulus measures after it claimed better-than-expected economic growth in the first quarter.

Over in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index declined 0.45 percent, as Hong Kong-listed shares of China Construction Bank fell by more than 1 percent.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan shed its earlier gains to slip 0.19 percent in morning trade as shares of index heavyweight Fast Retailing dropped more than 2.5 percent. The Topix index, on the other hand, traded fractionally higher.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s Kospi rose slightly, with chipmaker SK Hynix’s stock gaining more than 0.7 percent.

Australia’s ASX 200, which was closed on Monday for a holiday, gained 0.72 percent as almost all sectors advanced. The energy subindex added more than 2 percent as shares of oil companies rose amid the recent surge in crude prices. Santos gained 2.63 percent, Woodside Petroleum advanced 2.30 percent and Beach Energy jumped 2.80 percent.

Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 48.49 points to close at 26,511.05, while the S&P 500 advanced around 0.1 percent to finish at 2,907.97. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.22 percent to close at 8,015.27.

More than 140 S&P 500 companies are scheduled to release their quarterly results this week, including Coca Cola, Procter & Gamble, United Technologies, Verizon, Twitter, Lockheed Martin and eBay. Facebook, Microsoft and Tesla Motors are also set to report later this week.

So far, the majority of corporate earnings reports have topped expectations. FactSet data shows 76.5 percent of the S&P 500 companies that have posted earnings have surpassed analyst estimates. Analysts came into the season with low expectations, forecasting a 4.2 percent drop in profits.

Oil prices surged to nearly six-month highs on Monday after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration announced that all oil buyers would need to cease imports from Iran by early May.

Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, settled $2.07 higher at $74.04, rising 2.9 percent for its best closing price since Oct. 31, 2018. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures settled $1.70 higher at $65.70, surging 2.7 percent to a nearly six-month closing high.

“The Trump administration has pulled a shocker by declaring no renewal of Iranian fuel sanction waivers to all of the 8 countries that were exempted,” analysts at OCBC Treasury Research wrote in a morning note.

“The non-renewals come as a surprise because ahead of the US elections next year, many expected the Trump administration to prioritise keeping gasoline prices low against keeping a strong stance on international diplomacy,” they said.

In the morning of Asian trading hours on Tuesday, oil prices continued their ascent, with Brent adding 0.45 percent to $74.37 per barrel and U.S. crude futures adding 0.4 percent to $65.81 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 97.325 after seeing an earlier low of 97.282.

The Japanese yen traded at 111.73 against the dollar after seeing highs above 111.8 in the previous trading day. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7127 after slipping from highs beyond $0.714 yesterday.

— CNBC’s Fred Imbert, Tom DiChristopher and Weizhen Tan contributed to this report.