Asia markets struggle on profit-taking

Hong Kong - Asian equities stuttered in early trade on Tuesday after healthy gains in the previous session attracted profit-takers, offsetting a strong lead from Wall Street.

Shanghai lost 1.03% after rallying Monday in response to the Chinese central bank's weekend interest rate cut, while Hong Kong pared an initial advance to sit marginally lower.

Tokyo eased 0.21% and Seoul was flat, while Sydney edged up 0.12% ahead of a closely watched interest rate decision by Australia's central bank later in the day.