Mainland stocks edged down after US President Donald Trump said that he would levy a 25 percent tariff on imports from countries that traded with Iran.

In Hong Kong, however, the benchmark Hang Seng Index ended nearly 240 points, or 0.9 percent, up at 26,848 on Tuesday after almost hitting the 27,142 mark earlier in the day.

The China enterprises index was 65 points, or 0.71 percent, up at 9,285 and the tech index was up six points, or 0.11 percent, at 5,869.

Shares of China's GigaDevice Semiconductor ended the day up 37.53 percent at HK$222.80 in their Hong Kong trading debut on Tuesday, after raising HK$4.68 billion in a secondary listing.

On the mainland, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was down 26 points, or 0.64 percent, at 4,138 while the Shenzhen Component Index was 197 points, or 1.37 percent, lower at 14,169 and the ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, was 66 points, or 1.96 percent, down at 3,321.

The Star Composite Index, which reflects the performance of stocks on China's sci-tech innovation board, closed 2.66 percent lower at 1,806 while the Star 50 Index, which tracks the largest stocks listed on the board that also meet certain liquidity requirements, closed 2.8 percent lower at 1,469.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 surged 3.1 percent to close the day at 53,549.16, a record, with computer chip testing equipment maker Advantest surging 8.5 percent and chip maker Tokyo Electron jumped 8.2 percent. (Reuters/Xinhua)