HONG KONG: Asian shares were mixed Tuesday as fears about the eurozone and a slowdown in China were offset by hopes the US central bank chief would this week outline steps to boost the world's biggest economy.

Trade was light with little in the way of trading cues after US stocks ended mixed on Monday and the London stock exchange was closed for a public holiday.

Tokyo fell 0.57 per cent, or 52.10 points, to 9,033.29, while Seoul edged down 0.08 per cent, or 1.54 points, to 1,916.33, with shares in market leader Samsung Electronics rebounding 1.27 per cent.

The firm's shares had plunged on Monday after a US court last week fined it $1.05 billion for breaching arch-rival Apple's patents.

Sydney gained 0.36 per cent, or 15.7 points, to 4,359.4, while in afternoon trade Hong Kong was up 0.11 per cent and Shanghai rose 1.01 per cent.

Asian shares have been driven higher in August on hopes of fresh central bank stimulus but the euphoria has been tempered in recent sessions by fears expectations may not be met.

Investors were waiting to see what central bankers say about stimulus measures when they meet in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke set for a key address on Friday.

“People are waiting for Jackson Hole” in the hope of new stimulus, Paul Chan at Invesco in Hong Kong, told Dow Jones Newswires.

“If anything disappoints the market, we could have a pretty nasty pullback.”

US stocks were subdued on Monday before the meeting, with The Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.25 per cent, the S&P 500 off 0.05 per cent, while a surge in Apple shares on its Samsung victory gave the tech-rich Nasdaq a small gain.

Traders are also hoping for hints about the European Central Bank's plans for a new programme to buy bonds of struggling eurozone states, and signals China could move to arrest its slowing growth by easing monetary policy.

“Investors are staying sluggish and balancing global easing expectations and worries over an economic slowdown in Europe and China,” Tomoichiro Kubota, senior market analyst at Matsui Securities in Japan, told Dow Jones.

They were looking to eurozone money supply data due out later Tuesday, which could be “relevant” to next week's monetary policy decision by the ECB, National Australia Bank noted.

Investors were also awaiting a meeting later Tuesday between European Union president Herman Van Rompuy and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

“Any hints as to how close Spain is to formally requesting assistance from her EU partners will be important given this is a precondition for the ECB resuming secondary market bond buying,” the bank said.

The euro slipped in Asia Tuesday after key German business sentiment indicator released the previous day fell to its lowest level since March 2010.

The Ifo measure dropped for the fourth month running as Europe's biggest economy showed signs of being affected more and more by the eurozone crisis.

On currency markets in Asian afternoon trade, the euro bought $1.2488 and 98.08 yen, down from $1.2535 and 98.41 yen in New York late Monday.

The dollar also edged lower to 78.53 yen from 78.74 yen.

Oil slipped, with New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, down one cent to $95.46 a barrel in volatile trade, and Brent North Sea crude for October delivery down three cents to $112.23.

Gold was at $1,660.30 at 0700 GMT compared to $1,670.90 on Monday.