Japanese shares trade higher after holiday break

Japan's Nikkei rose after the long weekend, with Toshiba shares up despite the firm announcing it had inflated profits by $1.2bn over six years.

The Nikkei 225 index closed up 0.9% at 20,841.97, with Toshiba 6% higher.

Toshiba's shares rose because investors welcomed the report because it ended months of uncertainty over the accounting issue.

However, Toshiba's shares are still down by about a quarter since the problems first emerged in April.

The company said on Tuesday that chief executive and president Hisao Tanaka was to step down.

On the wider market, Japanese investors were able to take some positives from the minutes of the Bank of Japan's last meeting.

The notes show most central bank's board members were optimistic about the inflation trend continuing, though there was some doubt over the effectiveness of the central bank's stimulus efforts.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's benchmark Kospi was up 0.4% to 2,081.54 despite remarks from the country's finance minister that the second quarter gross domestic product would be "much lower" than in the previous three months.

Quoted by the Reuters news agency, Choi Kyung-hwan cited the global economic slowdown and lower oil prices as reasons.

However, export-oriented stocks were boosted by the continuing weakness of the won against the dollar, with the won sliding to a two-year low against the US currency.

Carmaker Hyundai Motors jumped by 7.3% while Kia was up almost 2.9%.

In Australia, the ASX 200 index ended up 0.4% at 5,706.70.

But the continued slump in commodity prices weighed on investor confidence when it came to the country's mining giants.

Rio Tinto fell by 0.9% while BHP Billiton fell 0.4% and Newcrest dropped 1.6%.

In China, government rescue measures appear to have restored some stability to trading in the past week.

The Shanghai Composite closed up 0.6% at 4,017.67 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng, external rose 0.5% to 25,536.43.