Stocks in Asia trade mixed as dollar edges up; copper holds onto gains

• Asian shares rose in early trade
• The dollar edged up
• Copper prices were steady after surging overnight
• Japan's Kobe Steel has fabricated data for "decades," Nikkei Asian Review reported
• Singapore non-oil exports unexpectedly declined

Stocks in Asia were mixed on Tuesday as commodities held onto most overnight gains made on the back of better-than-expected China producer prices.

Japan's Nikkei 225 was off 0.09 percent, threatening an end to a 10-day win streak. The benchmark index had touched a fresh 21-year high in the last session. Gains seen in most automakers and manufacturing names were offset by losses in financials. Tech stocks were mixed: SoftBank Group fell 1.06 percent and Line declined 1.78 percent.

Meanwhile, South Korea's benchmark Kospi index advanced 0.09 percent as steelmakers pared some gains made in the last session. Tech stocks, however, were mostly higher: Samsung Electronics rose 1.59 percent and SK Hynix gained 0.36 percent.

Down Under, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.58 percent, with the materials sub-index adding to overnight gains and climbing 0.9 percent. Major miners, banks and oil stocks notched gains early in the session.

Greater China markets trended lower. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Indexwas off 0.14 percent. On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite slid 0.23 percent and the Shenzhen Composite declined 0.226 percent.

Symbol	Name	Price		Change	%Change
NIKKEI	NIKKEI	21289.15		33.59	0.16%
HSI	HSI	28744.01		51.21	0.18%
ASX 200	S&P/ASX 200	5893.00		46.24	0.79%
SHANGHAI	Shanghai	3380.38		1.91	0.06%
KOSPI	KOSPI Index	2484.39		4.34	0.17%
CNBC 100	CNBC 100 ASIA IDX	8397.33		7.35	0.09%

Oil prices were stable after getting an overnight boost on headlines that Iraqi forces had captured parts of Kirkuk, an oil-rich city controlled by Kurdish forces. Brent crude futures were off 0.03 percent at $57.80 a barrel and U.S. crude was 0.21 percent lower at $51.76.

Also in the commodities patch, copper prices were steady after surging on Monday when China's producer price index beat expectations. That metal cracked the $7,000 per ton level in the last session, reaching heights not seen since 2014. Copper last traded at $7,108.

Investors are expecting a "relatively positive backdrop" in the space ahead of China's 19th Party Congress, which is set to begin Oct. 18, according to ANZ Research.

Meanwhile, the greenback edged up against a basket of rival currencies, with the dollar index standing at 93.397 at 9:52 a.m. HK/SIN. The U.S. currency was mostly flat against the Japanese yen, with the dollar last trading at 112.12.

In other currencies, the euro slid for the fifth straight day following an election in Austria which put right-leaning People's Party leader Sebastian Kurz on track to becoming the youngest leader in the world.

Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont's failure to clarify Catalonia's position on independence from Spain also likely weighed on the common currency, which traded at $1.1778 at 9:54 a.m. HK/SIN, its lowest level in around a week.

Stocks on Wall Street touched record highs on Monday as earnings season carried on. The Dow Jones tacked on 0.37 percent, or 85.24 points, to close at 22,956.96.

In corporate news, the falsification of product data at Japan's Kobe Steel took place for longer than the 10-year period indicated by the steelmaker, Nikkei Asian Review said. The practice had actually occurred for decades at the company, Nikkei said, citing a source. Kobe Steel shares were last up 5.8 percent after trading near their lowest levels in five years on Monday.

Elsewhere, Tencent Holdings Chairman Ma Huateng has sold part of his stake in the internet company, according to the Wall Street Journal. Ma raised approximately 2.1 billion Hong Kong dollars ($269 million) after he lowered his stake in Tencent to 8.63 percent from 8.69 percent, the WSJ reported. Tencent stock was off 0.34 percent.

In economic news, minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia showed policymakers were in no hurry to raise interest rates in the country just because other economies were doing so.

Singapore's non-oil domestic exports in September showed a surprise 1.1 percent decline compared to a year ago, according to government data. That measured against a 12.7 percent gain estimated by analysts in a Reuters poll.

The greenback firmed against the Singapore dollar following the news, fetching as much as $1.3549 compared with as little as $1.3505 in the last session. The Singapore currency traded at $1.3544 to the dollar at 9:52 a.m. HK/SIN.