WORLD BUSINESS: Asia shares mixed on Tuesday despite higher oil prices

Shares in Asia were mixed on Tuesday despite a near 7% rise in oil prices overnight and a rally on Wall Street.

Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.3% in early trade, but was later up just 0.25% to 16,154 points.

In Australia, the ASX 200 was down 0.35% to 4,984 points as some of the country's big lenders weighed on the index.
Qantas shares fell more than 4% despite posting its best first half-year profit in its 95-year history.

Evan Lucas, an IG Markets analyst, said Qantas' share slide on Tuesday was partly due to the overnight rise in oil prices.

Mining giant BHP Billiton also posted results on Tuesday.

For the six months to December, it reported a huge half-year net loss of $5.67bn (£4bn) and warned that weak commodity prices will continue.

However, its Sydney-listed shares were up 2.4% due in part to a rise in the price of iron ore.

In China, shares were divided. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong was flat at 19,466 points, while the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.5% to 2,912 points.

Meanwhile, South Korea's Kospi index was down just 0.2% to 1,913 points.

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