Asian markets, cloudy with a ray of sunshine

Asian markets closed slightly higher Tuesday, as stocks recovered from their slide on Monday. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng had a bumpy ride, at one point falling below the 20,000 mark for the first time since July 30. But by day's end, the index had clawed its way back up, finally settling at 20,306 -- an .84 percent gain.

Hong Kong's market rebounded, in large part, thanks to Goldman Sachs' upgrade of HSBC Holdings from "neutral" to "buy." The banking goliath rose 1.6 percent for the day. Meanwhile, BNP Paribas SA raised its rating on Li & Fung Ltd. and the stock shot up 4.7 percent.