Mumbai, March 27 -- Asian stocks ended mixed on Thursday, with mainland Chinese and Hong Kong stocks rising, after U.S. President Donald Trump said reciprocal duties that are set to be announced next week will be "very lenient," and that tariffs on China could be reduced to facilitate a deal on the sale of ByteDance Ltd.'s social video platform TikTok to an American company.

A cautious undertone prevailed elsewhere in the region after Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on auto imports to boost domestic manufacturing.

Gold ticked higher on safe-haven demand while oil prices dipped after rising on Wednesday, buoyed by data showing a decline in U.S. inventories and renewed efforts from the U.S. to limit Venezuelan and Iranian oil exports....