Asian stock markets largely gained Tuesday as traders hunted relative values in the tech sector, and weighed strong international trade reports from Beijing. Concerns regarding oil prices and the Strait of Hormuz were shrugged off.

Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tokyo finished in the green, while other regional exchanges closed choppily.

Brent oil struck $86.05 a barrel, up 3.9%, during Asian trading hours.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened lower on overnight Wall Street cues, but finished up 0.7% as traders bought into beaten-down semiconductor and AI-related shares.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 500.77 to 67,743.50, as gaining issues outnumbered losers 176 to 46.

Leading the upside was personal-products house Shiseido, up 5.1%, while Yaskawa Electric declined 9%.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index opened lower but gained in trading, closing up 0.5% after Beijing released positive export and import figures for June.

The broad gauge Hang Seng rose 127.01 to 24,340.73, as gaining issues outnumbered losers 71 to 19. The Hang Seng TECH Index gained 0.1% on the day, while the Mainland Properties Index rose 0.5%.

Leading the upside was Aluminum Corp. of China, up 9.6% after issuing a profit forecast, while search-engine colossus Baidu declined 7.3%.

On the mainland, the Shanghai Composite rose 1.4% to 3,967.13.

In economic news, mainland China exports in June rose 27% on year, measured US dollars, while imports grew 36% in the same time frame, reported the General Administration of Customs.

On the other regional exchanges, the S. Korean KOSPI rose 0.7%; the Taiwan TWSE declined 1.4%; the Australian ASX 200 was flat; the Singapore Straits Times Index rose 0.5%, and the Thai Set declined 0.1%. In late trading in Mumbai, the Sensex was down 0.7%.

The MSCI All Country Asia Pacific Index rose 0.4% on the day.