Asian markets ended the trade in red

Asia stocks lost momentum today and closed the trade in red.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 initially rose by 1%  in early trade, but finished with 0.37% down, at 16,052.05. The broader Topix also erased gains and decreased by 0.68% to 1,291.17. South Korea's Kospi reported a decline of 0.11%  to 1,914.22, while the S&P/ASX 200 erased 0.43% and closed at 4,979.58 weighed by losses in the financial and the energy sectors, down respectively with 0.7% and 0.47%.

Chinese markets also lost the momentum from Monday. Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.79%, closing down 22.33 points to 2,903.95, while Shenzhen Composite lost 0.58% of its value, closing at 1,877.18.

Shares of energy companies were trading mixed. Australian Santos and Woodside Petroleum reported a decline in the price of respectively 1.18% and 0.11%. Japan’s Fuji Oil decline was 1.54%, while Inpex added 0.9 %.

Chinese energy companies ended trading mainly with a slump, the decline in the share price of China Oilfield is 1.2%.

The Australian giant BHP Billiton reported a net loss of 5.67 billion dollars for the first half of financial 2016 and reduced the interim dividends by 75% - from 62 to 16 cents per share, below the  expectations of 31 cents. However, shares of BHP Billiton ended the day with an increase of 2.62%.