Stocks in Asia mostly higher; South Korean chipmakers jump - CNBC

Stocks in Asia saw gains in morning trade on Tuesday, while Wall Street had a tepid session as geopolitical uncertainty continue to weigh on investors.

The mainland Chinese markets, watched closely in relation to Beijing's trade fight with Washington, were mostly higher in early trade. The Shenzhen component rose 0.205 percent while the Shenzhen composite advanced 0.229 percent. The Shanghai composite, however, dipped slightly.

Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.71 percent in morning trade, while the Topix gained 1.61 percent with shares of Fast Retailing rising around 2.2 percent.

South Korea's Kospi was slightly higher, edging up 0.15 percent, as shares of industry heavyweight Samsung Electronics and chipmaker SK Hynix jumped more than 2 percent. LG Electronics gained more than 3.6 percent.

The ASX 200 in Australia recovered from its earlier dip to go up 0.3 percent in afternoon trade, as the sectors mostly rose. The heavily weighted financial subindex gained 0.23 percent as shares of the country's so-called Big Four banks mostly rose. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group advanced 0.41 percent and National Australia Bank added 0.35 percent while Westpac was largely flat. Commonwealth Bank of Australia, on the other hand, slipped 0.64 percent.

Markets overnight on Wall Street were tepid, as investors considered the possibility of a trade deal being struck between the U.S. and China. Officials from Washington and Beijing will continue talks this week with a focus on intellectual property.

Axios reported on Sunday, citing two administration officials, that U.S. President Donald Trump's advisors have informally discussed holding a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping next month at the Mar-a-Lago, Trump's private club in Florida. That meeting could take place as soon as mid-March, the report said.

That report comes after Trump said last week that a meeting between him and Xi would not happen before an early March deadline. If a trade deal is not reached before the deadline, additional U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods will take effect. That deadline could be moved, however, a White House official told CNBC last week.

"I think the most likely scenario is a deal with no more tariffs being imposed going forward," David Cui, head of China equity strategy at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, told CNBC's "Street Signs" on Tuesday.

"There's a possibility they keep existing tariffs imposed last year for a while to monitor performance, but I think (it is) highly unlikely there will be more tariffs imposed. It's also possible to delay the negotiation for a couple of more months to nail down some of the details. I think the least likely scenario is a ... complete breakdown of the negotiation," he added.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 97.045 after seeing a high around 97.1 yesterday.

The Japanese yen traded at 110.46 against the dollar after seeing an earlier low of 110.53. The Australian dollar was at $0.7066 after slipping from highs above $0.707 yesterday.

"The US dollar is on fire," said Kathy Lien, managing director of foreign exchange strategy at BK Asset Management in a note. "Investors drove the greenback higher against all of the major currencies in a move that took the euro, Japanese yen and Swiss Franc to their lowest levels this year," she said.

In oil markets, prices gained in the morning of Asian trade. The international benchmark Brent crude futures contract rose 0.39 percent to $61.75 per barrel. U.S. crude futures advanced 0.21 percent to $52.52 per barrel.

— Reuters and CNBC's Fred Imbert contributed to this report.

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