Asia: Most stocks up ahead of speech from US Fed chair Yellen

Stocks in the Asian market continued on the positive side on Tuesday as investors await the speech from US Fed chair Jane Yellen to the Senate Banking Committee.

Japan's Nikkei 225 opened in the red but closed 0.74% up, helped by a weaker yen.

The dollar rose to ¥119.22 against the yen at ¥118.76, amid speculation about what Yellen will say about rising rates.

"For the market, the risk is that Yellen may sound more upbeat on the economy in light of the strong January employment report, and possibly make the case to Congress that the time is approaching for the Fed to begin the process of policy normalisation,” according to analysts at Deutsche Bank.

Investors were mostly shrugging off an index of Japanese small business confidence which came in worse than expected in February at 46.5 points in February, up from 46.3 previously but below the forecast for a reading of 47.

Stocks were helped by news that Greece submitted a list of economic reforms in the nick of time on Monday for European leaders to approve as part of its request for a four-month bailout extension.

Australia's ASX was up 0.32% following an increase in consumer confidence to 110.8 in February from 109.8 the month before.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.35%, affected by poor results from HSBC Holdings.

China, Taiwan and Vietnam were still closed for the Chinese New Year holiday but markets are due to open on Wednesday.

In company news, Japanese Casio Computer company gained 4% after announcing the production of new luxury watches.

Honda Motor fell 0.2% following news that its chief executive Takanobu Ito will step down in June.

In Australia, BHP Billiton rose 2.9% as it announced deep cuts in its spending on exploration and other investment due to a 31% fall in profits during the half-year to 31 December.