S. Korea leads Asian falls
(CNN) -- Asian markets are mainly lower at midday Tuesday, with South Korea down about 1 percent.
Taiwan is about 0.6 percent in the red, but most market moves are muted, following a flat finish for industrial stocks in the United States.
Japanese banks are recovering some of the previous day's big declines.
The Nikkei 225 stock average is down 0.4 percent to 11,115.20 at the end of the morning session.
On Monday, the benchmark index fell 0.25 percent.
The broader Topix index of all first section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange is down 0.1 percent to 1125.41. The Topix dropped 0.74 percent on Monday.
There are small gains for the markets in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.
Among the Japanese big banks, UFJ Holdings is leading the recovery, up 2.5 percent to 448,000 yen. Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group is about 1 percent higher to 1.04 million yen.
SMFG is up just 0.14 percent to 694,000 yen after Monday's 2.8 percent fall. Mizuho is steady at 429,000 yen.
Among tech-related stocks, NEC, Sony, Canon, Fujitsu and Hitachi are in the red, with falls of up to 1 percent. But Toshiba is 0.7 percent higher to 400 yen.
Mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo is again posting solid gains, up 2.7 percent to 196,000 yen.
In Seoul, the Kospi is down 1 percent to 729.16, with Samsung Electronics off about 1.4 percent to 412,000 won.
Big exporter Hyundai Motor is 2 percent lower to 42,100 won.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 is 0.22 percent ahead to 3493.4
The market's biggest stock, media group News Corp, is down half a percent to A$12.09. Resources leader BHP Billiton is recovering some of Monday's fall and is up 0.4 percent to A$12.59.
But big bank NAB is down 0.9 percent to A$26.86.
In Taiwan, the Taiex is 0.55 percent lower to 5304.81. Chip foundry TSMC is steady at T$40.90.
In Singapore, the Straits Times index is 0.4 percent ahead to 1863.35.
New Zealand's Top 50 is 0.22 percent higher to 2747.49.
On Wall Street Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average finished virtually unchanged at 9961.92. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index slipped 0.54 percent to 1839.02. (Full story)
