Tokyo Nikkei 225 down 0.01%, S&P ASX 200 up 0.50% (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - Tokyo, 23 Jul - Asian shares closed mixed after gains on Wall Street overnight, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan up 0.23%. The benchmark index shed 3% last week.

Political uncertainty continued to keep sentiment in check as investors digested news over the weekend that US president Joe Biden had dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed vice president Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.

In Asian stock market dealings technology stocks were mostly higher, reversing last week's selloff as chipmakers tracked a rebound in US artificial intelligence major Nvidia Corporation.

Australia's ASX 200 was lifted by heavyweight banks and mining stocks.

Chinese stocks lagged their regional peers as speculation over a Trump presidency continued to weigh on investor sentiment.

On the data front, South Korea's producer price index in June rose 2.5% year on year, compared to a 2.3% increase in May. India is due to unveil its first budget under prime minister Narendra Modi's third five-year term, with analysts at Barclays expecting the government to signal policy consistency.

The Nikkei index closed down 0.01% at 39,594 points, in Sydney the S&P ASX 200 closed up 0.50% at 7,971 points, while in Seoul the KOSPI closed up 0.39% at 2,774 points.

The Shanghai Composite index was down 1.44% at 2,921 points and the Hong Kong Hang Seng index was down 0.99% at 17,462 points. In Mumbai the Sensex index slid 0.23% to 80,315 points.

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(RADIOCOR) 23-07-24 09:00:02 (0192) 5 NNNN