Asian shares mixed after recent rally

HONG KONG: Asian stock markets were mixed on Tuesday morning, with optimism after recent strong gains tempered by fresh concerns over Greece's debt crisis.

With Wall Street closed on Monday for the Independence Day celebrations many bourses were subdued, while Sydney traders were awaiting the outcome of an interest rate policy meeting by the Australian central bank later in the day.

Tokyo fell 0.15 percent by the break and Sydney dropped 0.16 percent while Hong Kong and Shanghai were flat. Seoul gained 0.25 percent.

Asian markets posted broad gains Monday and at the end of last week after Athens agreed to austerity measures that meant it could avoid a default -- a situation many feared could have led to another global financial shock.

However, ratings agency Standard & Poor's on Monday warned that proposals aimed at helping Greece through its financial turmoil with a new bailout could still amount to a selective default.

The proposals centre on voluntary renewal by private banks of debt, in the form of bonds from five to 30 years, which would give Athens some breathing space without actually reducing the amount it owes.

But S&P said in a statement: "It is our view that each of the two financing options described in the (French) proposal would likely amount to a default under our criteria."

Tsuyoshi Segawa, equity strategist at Mizuho Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires that the comments from S&P were "a reminder that the Greece problem will not go away easily".

The euro held up on Monday despite the S&P announcement but edged lower in early trade on Tuesday.

The euro weakened to $1.4478 Tuesday against $1.4524 in London late Monday. The dollar firmed to 80.98 yen from 80.71 yen in London.

The single European currency dipped to 117.30 yen from 117.47 yen.

With few indicators this week, analysts said most investors will be looking to the release on Friday of US government jobs figures, to provide some idea of the state of the world's number one economy.

On the oil markets, New York's main contract, light sweet crude for August delivery, was up 14 cents to $95.08 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for August delivery rose 23 cents to $111.62.

Gold opened at $1,497.00-$1,498.00 an ounce in Hong Kong, up from $1,494.00-$1,495.00 on Monday.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011