South Korea auto stocks rise after U.S. Commerce Secretary confirms tariffs lowered to 15%

Shares of South Korean auto companies rose Tuesday after U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick confirmed that lower U.S. auto tariffs of 15% on South Korea would retrospectively come into effect, starting Nov. 1.

"We are also removing tariffs on airplane parts and will 'un-stack' Korea's reciprocal rate to match Japan and the EU," Lutnick said, according to an X post by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Carmakers Hyundai Motor and Kia Corp rose nearly 5% and 3%, respectively.

South Korea's Kospi jumped 1.02%, while the small-cap Kosdaq was down 0.13%.

South Korea's headline inflation in November rose 2.4% year on year, according to government data Tuesday, exceeding the 2.35% rise expected by economists in a Reuters poll. Core inflation, which strips out prices of fresh food and energy, rose 2% from a year earlier.

The latest figure is unchanged from October's inflation rate, supporting the case for the central bank to keep interest rates on hold. The Bank of Korea had kept rates unchanged at 2.5% for a fourth straight meeting last Thursday.

Benchmark indexes in the broader Asia-Pacific region mostly rose Tuesday, after Wall Street fell as crypto sell-off dented market sentiment.

Overnight, bitcoin plunged around 6% to trade below $86,000, denting investor sentiment and pressuring the broader stock market. It was trading at $86,866.49 as of 9:30 a.m. Tuesday (8:30 p.m. ET Monday) Singapore time. The digital currency has struggled to stay above $90,000 since it fell below that level late last month for the first time since April.

Other crypto-related stocks, including Coinbase and Strategy, also fell in Monday's session in U.S. trading hours.

Shares of artificial intelligence-related names, Broadcom and Super Micro Computer lost more than 4% and 1%, respectively, indicating more profit-taking in the sector.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index added 0.54%, and the Topix index was up 0.44%. The financials, energy and basic materials sectors led gains on the index.

Among the top movers on the Nikkei 225 was industrial robot maker Fanuc, which was up 5.86%. NGK Insulators, which manufactures diesel particulate filters, advanced as much as 6%, and electrical equipment company Fujikura added 2.29%.

Yields on the 10-year Japanese Government Bonds rose to 1.88%, the highest since June 2008, amid growing speculation of an interest rate hike by the central bank as soon as this month.

Meanwhile, yield on the 20-year JGB rose to 2.915%, the highest since 1999, and yield on the 30-year JGB rose to an all-time high of 3.411%.

Australia's ASX/S&P 200 rose 0.12%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.49% at the open, while mainland China's CSI 300 declined 0.17%. Shares of Alibaba Group climbed nearly 3% in Hong Kong, rising for a third straight session, after the tech giant launched its Quark artificial intelligence glasses in China on Nov. 27.

U.S. equity futures were little changed in early Asian hours after all three key benchmarks snapped five-day gain streaks.

Overnight, the S&P 500 lost 0.53% to end at 6,812.63, while the Nasdaq Composite shed 0.38% to finish at 23,275.92. The Dow Jones Industrial Average pulled back by 427.09 points, or 0.9%, to settle at 47,289.33.

— CNBC's Alex Harring and Fred Imbert contributed to this report.