Asian stocks mostly opened the year with gains on Tuesday as traders drift back to work after the festive break, with Hong Kong the standout performer, though the dollar faced fresh pressure from most other currencies.

A pregnant 18-year-old Venezuelan woman was fatally shot in the head early Sunday in Caracas as she waited in line at a National Guard outpost to buy ham for her New Year's meal, relatives said.

Despite demonstrators chanting provocative slogans against Iran's Islamic rulers, analysts say the roots of the current protests lie in the same anger at economic austerity that has roiled many countries.

Spain's foreign minister claimed Monday that the Catalan independence crisis had cost the country "a billion" euros as fallout from the turmoil continued to hamper growth in the wealthy region. 

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates introduced value-added tax from Monday, a first for the Gulf which has long prided itself on its tax-free, cradle-to-grave welfare system.

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde has urged France and other countries to push through reforms "while the sun is shining" on the global economy.

German inflation slowed slightly in December, but still beat forecasts for the second month in a row, official data showed Friday, in an encouraging sign for the European Central Bank.

The benchmark index of blue-chip shares was boosted once again by strong mining stocks, and closed at 1230 GMT, up 0.9 percent at a new closing high of 7,687.77 points, having earlier reached a new intraday record of 7,697.62.

U.S. banking giant Goldman Sachs said Friday the recently-enacted U.S. tax reform will cut its earnings this year by about $5 billion, mainly because of a tax targeting earnings held abroad.

The tax reform package is expected to "result in a reduction of approximately $5 billion in earnings for the fourth quarter," the company said in a statement. 

Spain will be taken off the EU's red list of budgetary sinners next year, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Friday.