HONG KONG, China (Reuters) -- Asian stock markets mostly fell on Tuesday after an early rise lost steam with South Korea recoiling from a fresh peak as Samsung Electronics slipped following a disappointing revenue forecast from its U.S. peer.
At 0057 GMT, Tokyo's Nikkei average had fallen 0.2 percent, extending Monday's 1.1 percent slide.
Texas Instruments, the world's biggest maker of chips for mobile phones, cast a shadow on the sector after it posted a lower quarterly profit and gave a revenue forecast that was lower than analysts' expectations.
But investors snapped up BHP Billiton, sending its shares up 0.7 percent, after the mining giant reported a series of annual production records, including a 17 percent jump in fourth-quarter copper output.
At 0057 GMT, Tokyo's Nikkei average had fallen 0.2 percent, extending Monday's 1.1 percent slide, as industrial robot maker Fanuc and casual wear chain Fast Retailing both dropped more than 2 percent.
KDDI jumped 4.7 percent a day after the second-biggest phone company posted a 15.6 percent rise in quarterly operating profit.
In South Korea, the benchmark KOSPI spiked as much as 0.6 percent to set a fresh life high of 2,005.02 and break the psychological barrier of 2,000 for the first time, but quickly lost steam and by 0120 GMT was down 0.7 percent.
"Breaking 2,000 points was a key milestone but I think people were ready to sell as soon as that happened. Texas Instruments could be having an impact on IT shares," said Park Suk-hyun, an analyst at Kyobo Securities.
Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics eased 0.8 percent, while top lender Kookmin Bank climbed 1.9 percent.
Australia's key S&P/ASX 200 index gained 0.4 percent, just about erasing Monday's 0.5 percent decline, thanks to strength in global miner BHP Billiton.
Newcrest Mining rallied 4.7 percent after the gold miner said gold production in the June quarter rose 15 percent on a year earlier.
But with the reporting season looming, investors were likely to stay on the sidelines.
"As we start our reporting season, the major investors will probably sit on their hands ahead of the results and in particular, the forward guidance by the companies," said Tony Russell, senior equities adviser at ABN AMRO Morgans."
MSCI's measure of Asia Pacific stocks excluding Japan edged up 0.2 percent, climbing for a fourth straight session to yet another all-time high. E-mail to a friend 
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