Asian Shares Rise; Focus on Yellen, Greece

        Stocks in most Asian markets rose Tuesday, although gains were capped by caution amid uncertainty in Greece and ahead of testimony from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen.
        Benchmark indexes from Taiwan to Australia were up a fraction of a percent, while Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was flat, having hit consecutive 15-year highs in recent sessions.
        The dollar was up at Yen118.96, from Yen118.81 late Monday in New York, although investors were hesitant to make large wagers before Ms. Yellen's assessment of the U.S. economy starting Tuesday, which could offer clues on the schedule for raising interest rates. Higher rates are expected to curb money flows to riskier assets, including stocks.
        "Weak oil and lack of dollar upside will hinder the [Tokyo] stock market, " said Daiwa Securities senior strategist Tsuyoshi Nomaguchi. "Still, the fundamentals for U.S. economic growth remain in place, and Yellen's testimony before Congress will be closely eyed for any reassuring or cautious tone."
        Meanwhile, Greece's government pushed back until Tuesday a list of awaited reforms that its eurozone partners had demanded in exchange for continuing to fund the country for another few months.
        Greek officials said late Monday that the list would be sent the following morning, past the original midnight deadline. Eurozone finance ministers are due to review the proposed reforms during a conference call Tuesday afternoon.
        Investors globally are watching developments in Greece because of the possibility that the country could exit the European monetary arrangement and threaten eurozone stability. Over the weekend, the new Greek government was locked in feverish deliberations with its bailout inspectors--from the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank--as Athens sought their acceptance of alternative reform proposals.
        U.S. stocks ended slightly lower Monday as a decline in oil prices weighed on energy stocks. The Hang Seng Index slipped 0.2% while China's mainland markets remained closed for the Lunar New Year holiday.
        In Japan, shares of Hitachi Ltd. were down 0.5%, after the firm agreed to buy the rail division of Finmeccanica of Italy. The acquisition, worth over Yen250 billion ($2.08 billion), would be Hitachi's biggest ever, according to the Nikkei, a business daily.
        BHP Billiton Ltd. shares were up 2.7% after the firm reported its profit for the last six months of 2014 fell 47% to US$4.27 billion as iron ore and other key commodities saw sharp price declines. The result was higher than the median US$3.59 billion forecast by a Wall Street Journal poll of analysts. The mining major also offered an upbeat outlook and raised its dividend by 5%.
        Bradford Frischkorn contributed to this article.
        Write to Chao Deng at Chao.Deng@wsj.com
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        (END) Dow Jones Newswires

        February 23, 2015 22:20 ET (03:20 GMT)

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