Toshiba could sell stake in its memory chips business which has clients like Apple and other smartphone makers
Toshiba shares slipped 12% in Tokyo on 16 May Reuters

Most stock markets across Asia were in positive territory on 16 May after overnight gains on Wall Street.

Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei share average was up by 0.2% to 19,902.58 points in the afternoon session.

More from IBTimes UK

Shares in Toshiba were down 12% after the troubled Japanese conglomerate warned investors that it would post a loss of ¥950bn (£6.5bn) for the 2016/17 financial year in unaudited results released on 15 May.

The Japanese firm missed the Tokyo Stock Exchange's deadline to publish its annual results, saying auditors were still going through its accounts.

Meanwhile, Toshiba's American partner, Western Digital, has filed a request to the International Court of Arbitration to stop the firm's attempts to sell its chip business, which is valued at ¥2tn.

Western jointly operates a chip plant with Toshiba in Yokkaichi.

"It's very important for Toshiba and Western Digital to cooperate," Japanese Trade Minister Hiroshige Seko was quoted as saying by Reuters.

"The reason the government is closely watching Toshiba's memory chip unit sale process is because we are paying attention to whether employment and technology stay at Yokkaichi."

Rest of Asia

In South Korea, the Kospi benchmark index advanced by 0.2% to 2,294.62 points.

Elsewhere, Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 share average was up by 0.3% at 5,853.50.

Investors were buoyed by a positive overnight session on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones and S&P 500 share averages closed 0.4% and 0.5% higher, respectively.

"Despite Washington being caught up with matters related to a disclosure on President Donald Trump, US markets largely gained from the softer dollar and the boost in crude oil prices," said Jingyi Pan, market analyst at IG in Singapore.

"A breakdown of the S&P 500 index by sectors finds the materials, financials and energy sectors leading gains on the index after being weighed just last week."

Oil prices extended gains during Asian trading after Saudi Arabia and Russia said they would extend supply cuts until March 2018.

Elsewhere, China's Shanghai Composite index retreated 0.2% to 3,082.88 points.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index also fell by 0.2% to 25,310.91.