Asia markets up on bargain-buying, strong yen hits Tokyo

Asian markets mostly rose on Tuesday on bargain hunting, but Tokyo took a thumping as traders returned from a long weekend to a much stronger yen.
The broad gains came despite another heavy sell-off on Wall Street fuelled by global growth concerns, while oil prices remain stuck at multi-year lows owing to demand woes as well as fears of a supply glut.
Tokyo tumbled 1.77 percent -- but Hong Kong was 0.48 percent higher, Sydney added 1.07 percent, Seoul gained 0.31 percent and Shanghai was up 0.11 percent.
Global markets have been struggling of late as a string of weak data from Japan, China and the eurozone has fanned fears about the global economy, while the Federal Reserve also said it was concerned about the outlook.
And on Wall Street the three main indexes were hard hit as investors fled.
The Dow sank 1.35 percent and the S&P 500 shed 1.65 percent -- just weeks after the two had touched record highs. The Nasdaq lost 1.46 percent.
But Tuesday saw investors tentatively return to buying, picking up cheaper stocks.
The dollar also picked up slightly after tumbling below 107 yen in New York on Monday.
The greenback bought 107.21 yen early Tuesday, up from 106.83 yen in New York Monday afternoon. However, that was not enough to support the Nikkei as it is still sharply down from 107.79 yen in Tokyo on Friday, before a three-day weekend.
"Most of the Nikkei's gains over the last several weeks have come on the back of the dollar's rapid rise without much fundamental buying support behind it, so a dramatic reversal such as this is possible, if not likely, when the dollar falls back to earth," Toshihiko Matsuno, senior strategist at SMBC Friend Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.
The euro bought $1.2721 and 136.35 yen against $1.2753 and 136.25 yen.
World oil prices extended their losses after the OPEC cartel signalled that producers have no intention of cutting output, even with a supply glut.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for November delivery was down 63 cents to $85.11 in mid-morning Asian trade, and Brent crude for November eased 65 cents to $88.24.
Gold was at $1,235.23 an ounce against $1,227.19 late Monday.