Asian shares consolidated recent hefty gains on Tuesday as hopes for an easing in global trade tensions kept risk appetites keen, while the bull run in tech stocks counted on a bumper round of big-cap earnings this week.

In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index gained 75 points, or 0.28 percent, to open at 26,508.

On the mainland, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.25 percent at 3,986 while the Shenzhen Component Index was 0.58 percent lower at 13,411.

The ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, was down 0.9 percent at 3,205.

Safe-haven gold huddled around US$4,000 an ounce, as a drop of 9 percent in five sessions squeezed leveraged money out of a very crowded trade.

"What began as a price rise supported by fundamentals now looks driven by retail enthusiasm," said Neil Shearing, group chief economist at Capital Economics.

"And with prices still at record highs in real terms, the next big move in gold is more likely to be down than up. Indeed, our new forecast is that the price will fall to US$3,500 per ounce by the end of 2026."

Several Asian share markets have also hit all-time highs and were overdue a breather.

The Nikkei eased 0.2 percent, having surged 2.5 percent on Monday as a rally in all things tech lifted it to gains of almost 27 percent so far this year.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged down 0.1 percent.

Eurostoxx 50 futures and DAX futures held steady, as did S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures.

Tech stocks had again led Wall Street higher overnight, with Qualcomm jumping 11 percent after it unveiled two artificial intelligence chips for data centres.

There are lofty expectations for the "Magnificent Seven" tech heavyweights reporting this week, with Microsoft, Alphabet, Apple, Amazon and Meta Platforms all needing strong results to justify stretched valuations.

Aiming to curb expenses, Amazon is planning to cut as many as 30,000 corporate jobs starting on Tuesday, sources said. (Reuters/Xinhua)