Asian shares mixed after tech giants nudge S&P to new high

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares were mixed in Asia on Tuesday, with Chinese markets losing ground, after gains in several big-name tech companies including Apple helped nudge the S&P 500 to another record high.

Tokyo gained nearly 1% while Shanghai lost 0.9% as jitters over tensions between China and the U.S. weigh on sentiment.

Investors are watching for the outcome of the Federal Reserve’s policy setting meeting this week, where decisionmakers will gauge the strength of the economic recovery and whether emerging signs of inflation will be transitory.

The concern is that the Fed could ease up on bond purchases and other stimulus measures as the economy recovers. The Fed delivers its interest rate policy update Wednesday afternoon and no policy changes are expected immediately, but comments on a shift in policy could jostle already skittish markets.

The Fed's meeting is so “spectator worthy," Mizuho Bank said in a commentary, “because the Fed is confronted with a balancing act of walking a tight-rope between transition and tantrums."

The Fed will be obliged to at least acknowledge the recovery and recent 13-year high inflation readings, it said.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 rose 0.1% to 29,438.39 and the Kospi in Seoul gained 0.2% to 3,256.29. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng lost 0.8% to 28,622.75 while the Shanghai Composite index shed 0.9% to 3,557.33. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 surged 1.1% to 7,389.80.

Shares rose in India and Taiwan but fell in Jakarta and Bangkok.

Aside from geopolitical concerns, investors in Hong Kong and Shanghai were keeping an eye on developments following reports of a possible leak at the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong province, near Hong Kong.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said data from the Hong Kong Observatory and other departments showed that...