By V. Phani Kumar, MarketWatch HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Asian markets mostly advanced Tuesday, with energy-related stocks such as BHP Billiton and Cnooc soaring on higher crude-oil prices, while Japanese shares gained for a third straight session as banks and insurers paced gains after an overnight rally on Wall Street. Hong Kong stocks wavered after opening higher, hurt by rating downgrades for Citic Pacific as the diversified company faced a $1.9 billion foreign exchange loss and China Mobile a day after the mobile services giant reported a lower than expected profit for the third quarter. "I think we're going to see more earnings downgrades in the future as the economy is slowing down and corporate revenue growth is tapering off," said Linus Yip, strategist at First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong. "Citic Pacific is a big name and the announcement shows its controls weren't too good ... It has further hurt market sentiment." The Nikkei 225 Average rose 1.8% to 9,170.27 in the afternoon, while the broader Topix index advanced 1.7% to 942.82. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index struggled to stay in the positive territory after opening higher. The benchmark index was recently up 0.3% at 15,354.82, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rose 1.7% to 7,567.65. On mainland China, the Shanghai Composite was unsettled and moved in a range between 1,963.45 and 1,986.27. It was recently up 0.4% at 1,982.60. In Seoul, the Kospi rose as high as 1,232.73, before it briefly slipped into the red. The index was recently up 0.3% at 1,210.78. Elsewhere, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index gained 2.7% to 4,254.40 and New Zealand's NZX 50 index added 1.7% to 2,940.26. Malaysian shares advanced after the country's finance minister, Najib Razak, announced measures Monday to attract foreign investment, and support the stock market. The KLSE Composite index rose 0.8% to 916.78. Shares of construction major Gamuda jumped 6%, while stock exchange operator Bursa Malaysia climbed 3.6% in Kuala Lumpur trading. CITIC shares slump Shares of Citic ) plummeted 45.3% after the diversified company Monday said it faced losses of HK$14.7 billion ($1.9 billion) after its currency market positions on the Australian dollar and the euro soured as the U.S. dollar appreciated. See full story. Following the announcement, Citigroup downgraded the stock to a sell from a buy, reducing its target price to HK$6.66 from HK$28. Shares of market heavyweight China Mobile slipped 2.5% to HK$69.30 after the mainland's largest cellular service provider reported a lower-than-expected 26% rise in quarterly net income. The Royal Bank of Scotland downgraded the stock to a hold from a buy, lowering the company's target price to HK$75 from HK$100, adding that the weaker-than-expected results were likely because of the economic slowdown in China and an increased proportion of low-end subscribers. Shares of Esprit Holdings dropped 2.8% to HK$39.85 after DBS Group Research cut the fashion retailer and wholesaler's target price to HK$52.5 from HK$89. "With heightening macro risk brought in by the financial turmoil, earnings visibility is likely to remain low for Esprit in the near-term," DBS wrote in a report. Other stocks in detail Energy-related stocks gained on higher crude-oil prices, with BHP Billiton soaring 9.2%, on top of its 7.7% advance in the previous session, while Inpex Holdings Inc. jumped 7.1%, after rising 3.1% Monday.

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