Investing.com - Asian markets were mixed in morning trade on Tuesday after Chinese President Xi Jinping gave a speech at the International Import Expo in Shanghai that promised to open economy, but short on detail.
Xi added that he supports globalisation, but did not announce any detailed measures that would suggest he was going to meet U.S. President’s trade demands, including halting forced technology transfers and over-supporting state-owned firms.
Overnight, Wall Street closed higher on reports that billionaire investor Warren Buffett bought nearly $1billion of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKa) (NYSE:BRKb)’s shares in August.
The company disclosed the buyback in a securities filing on Monday, after reporting better-than-expected earnings on Saturday.
The filing also showed Berkshire’s net purchases of other stocks through the first nine months of 2018 were $24.4 billion.
Meanwhile, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) suppliers in Asia fell after Nikkei reported the company had told its smartphone assemblers to pause plans for additional production lines for its latest smartphone iPhone XR.
China’s Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component fell 1.1% and 1.7% respectively by 9:50 PM ET (01:50 GMT). Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 0.2%.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 1.2%, while South Korea’s KOSPI inched up 0.1%.
Down under, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.9%.
Crude oil prices were in focus as it dipped to near multi-month lows after the U.S. granted eight countries temporary waivers that allowed them to continue purchasing oil from Iran.
Washington formally imposed punitive sanctions on Iran earlier this week. Looking ahead, markets will likely focus on the upcoming U.S. midterm elections.