Asia-Pacific stocks mixed as China keeps benchmark lending rate unchanged

Asia-Pacific stocks were mixed on Tuesday as investors reacted to the October fixing of China’s benchmark lending rate.

Mainland Chinese stocks were higher on the day, with the Shanghai composite up 0.47 percent  to about 3,328.10 while the Shenzhen component jumped 1.361 percent to around 13,603.88.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was slightly higher, as of its final hour of trading.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.44 percent to close at 23,567.04 while the Topix index also shed 0.75 percent to end its trading day at 1,625.74.

Shares of Japan Exchange Group were down 1.51 percent on the day, following local media reports that the country’s financial regulators are set to conduct an on-site inspection at the Tokyo Stock Exchange after a technical issue earlier in October that halted trading for a day.

South Korea’s Kospi closed 0.5 percent higher at 2,358.41.

Shares of South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix fell 1.73 percent after the firm said Tuesday it will buy Intel’s NAND memory and storage business for $9 billion.

Meanwhile, shares in Australia fell, with the S&P/ASX 200 finishing its trading day 0.72 percent lower at 6,184.60.