Asian markets mostly down, despite Dow Jones and S&P 500 record high closing

On Tuesday stock markets in Asia were mostly lower, despite markets in the US, where both the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 closed at all-time highs.

Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.62% to settle at 5,922.00 points in afternoon trade, after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced it would keep its benchmark interest rate on hold at 2.25%.

Analysts said the market had reckoned there was about a 50% chance of a cut.

RBA governor Glenn Stevens said: "At today's meeting the board judged that, having eased monetary policy at the previous meeting, it was appropriate to hold interest rates steady for the time being."

The Australian dollar rose against the US dollar after the RBA's announcement.

It had dropped as low as $0.77 earlier on Tuesday, but was up 0.8% at $0.78 after the RBA's announcement.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 was down 0.20% at 18,788.40 points in early afternoon trade.

Trading of shares of Japan's struggling electronics giant Sharp was hampered temporarily on Tuesday morning after a media report said the firm was preparing to seek aid from its lenders. However, the company said it had not been the source of the report, and that it had made no decisions around restructuring. Its Japan-listed shares were down more than 6% in morning trade.

Sharp had said it was likely to post its third annual net loss in four years as it struggles with its business in China.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was flat, up just 0.02% at 24,892.19.

Hong Kong-listed shares of Kaisa, China's property developer, jumped more than 7% early on Tuesday after the firm announced an onshore debt restructuring plan. The firm's shares were up by just under 2% by mid-morning.

The Shanghai Composite index was down 0.92% at 3,305.45 as investors worried about a glut of new share offers.

In Korea, the Kospi share index was up 0.10% at 1,998.77 points.