Asian shares mostly fell on Tuesday after US stocks pulled away from their record heights, while US futures edged higher.

In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index was down 331 points, or 1.29 percent, at 25,434 while the Hang Seng Tech Index was down 107 points, or 1.9 percent, at 5554 and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index was down 147 points, or 1.62 percent, at 8,936.

Further north, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was down 14 points, or 0.37 percent, at 3,909 while the Shenzhen Component Index was 52 points, or 0.39 percent, lower at 13,277 and the ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, gained 0.61 percent to close at 3,209.

The combined turnover of the main Shanghai and Shenzhen indexes stood at 1.92 trillion yuan, down from the 2.04 trillion yuan seen on Monday.

Shares related to co-packaged optics and photovoltaic equipment led gains while those related to nonferrous metals suffered major losses.

The declines seen in the main mainland markets came as investors watched for news from the Central Economic Work Conference, an annual planning meeting of the ruling Communist Party's leadership.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index was one of the main outliers, gaining 0.1 percent to 50,655.

In South Korea, the Kospi lost 0.3 percent and was at 4,143.

The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia gave up 0.4 percent to 8,585 after the Reserve Bank opted to keep its cash rate unchanged at 3.6 percent.

Computer chip giant Nvidia's shares climbed 2.3 percent in afterhours trading after US President Donald Trump said he would allow it to sell its H200 computer chip used in the development of artificial intelligence to “approved customers” in China. Trump said Monday on his social media site that he had informed China’s leader Xi Jinping and “President Xi responded positively!”

Nvidia's shares rose 1.7 percent on Monday.

The move has wide potential ramifications, experts said.

“This would allow China to speed up its buildout of AI infrastructure and increase the likelihood of Chinese AI models matching, or possibly even overtaking, frontier US models,” Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in an analysis.

Investors are awaited a meeting of the Federal Reserve on Wednesday, where the U.S. central bank is expected to cut its benchmark interest rate to help counter a weakening jobs outlook.

Netflix dropped 3.4 percent after Paramount announced a bid in hopes of trumping Netflix’s deal to buy Warner Bros.

Paramount said it’s offering US$30 for each Warner Bros. Discovery share, as well as a quicker and easier way for investors to get their payout. Paramount is offering to buy all of Warner Bros. Discovery in cash, unlike Netflix’s offer of cash and stock for just Warner Bros following its pending split with Discovery.

The board of directors for Warner Bros. Discovery had agreed to Netflix’s offer last week, but it’s already facing potential scrutiny from federal regulators. President Donald Trump said Sunday that a Netflix-Warner Bros. combination “could be a problem” amid worries about too much industry power sitting at one company

Warner Bros Discovery rose 4.4 percent following the hostile buyout bid, and Paramount Skydance’s stock climbed 9 percent. (AP/Xinhua)