Asian stock markets are trading mixed on Tuesday, following broadly negative signals from Wall Street overnight, as traders appeared reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of some key economic data in the coming days, including US inflation figures for Friday. Asian markets closed mostly lower on Monday.
The US Federal Reserve has announced three rate cuts this year. The European Central Bank and the Bank of England are also expected to reduce interest rates sooner rather than later.
The Australian stock market is slightly lower on Tuesday, giving up some of the previous session’s gains, following broadly negative signals from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is falling below the 7,800 level, with losses in technology and financial stocks almost offset by gains in mining and energy stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is losing 23.10 points or 0.30 per cent to 7,788.80, after hitting a previous low of 7,776.70. The broader All Ordinaries index is down 28.60 points or 0.35 percent at 8,042.90. Australian shares closed noticeably higher on Monday.
Among major miners, Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto are gaining almost 1 percent each, while BHP Group is advancing 0.4 percent. Mineral resources are declining by more than 2 percent.
Oil reserves are higher. Origin Energy is down 0.3 percent and Beach Energy is up almost 6 percent, while Woodside Energy and Santos are adding more than 1 percent each.
Among technology stocks, WiseTech Global is losing 1.5 percent and Appen is falling almost 2 percent, while Zip and Xero are down more than 1 percent each. Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 2 percent.
Gold miners are mostly up. Evolution Mining is gaining more than 2 percent and Gold Road Resources is advancing more than 3 percent, while Northern Star Resources and Resolute Mining are adding almost 2 percent each. Newmont is losing 0.1 percent.
Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking is losing 0.2 per cent, while Westpac and National Australia Bank are losing almost 1 per cent each. Commonwealth Bank is rising 0.4 per cent.
In the foreign exchange market, the Australian dollar is trading at $0.654 on Tuesday.
Adding to the previous session’s losses, the Japanese stock market fell slightly in choppy trading on Tuesday, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 40,400 level, following broadly negative signals from Wall Street overnight, with losses of the heavyweights of the index and of the financial stocks partially. offset by gains in exporters and technology stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed the morning session at 40,364.40, down 49.72 points or 0.12 percent, after hitting a low of 40,308.43 earlier. Japanese stocks closed sharply lower on Monday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing 0.3 percent and operator Uniqlo Fast Retailing is losing more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining nearly 1 percent and Toyota is rising 0.1 percent.
In the technology space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are rising between 0.2 and 0.4 percent each, while Screen Holdings is gaining more than 3 percent.
In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is stable.
The main exporters are mostly taller. Canon, Mitsubishi Electric and Sony gain almost 1 percent each, while Panasonic loses almost 1 percent.
Among the other big losers, Tokyu is losing almost 7 percent and Nissan Motor is falling more than 4 percent.
By contrast, IHI is rising more than 6 percent and Mitsubishi Logistics is gaining more than 3 percent, while Japan Steel Works and Fuji Electric are adding almost 3 percent each.
In the foreign exchange market, the US dollar is trading in the lower range of 151 yen on Tuesday.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea rose 1.2 percent, while Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and Malaysia rose between 0.1 and 0.6 percent each. New Zealand, China and Indonesia are down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each.
On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated throughout the trading session on Monday after an initial move lower, but largely maintained a negative bias. All major averages finished the day lower after ending last Friday’s trading mixed.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 44.35 points or 0.3 percent to 16,384.47, moving away from the record closing high set in the previous session, while the S&P 500 fell 15.99 points or 0, 3 percent to 5,218.19 and the Dow fell 162.26 points or 0.4 percent to 39,313.64. .
Meanwhile, major European markets had mixed results during the day. While the German DAX index rose 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 index closed just below the unchanged line and the UK’s FTSE 100 index fell 0.2 percent.
Crude oil prices rose on Monday amid concerns about supply disruptions after Ukraine continued to attack Russian refineries. A weak dollar amid expectations of interest rate cuts by central banks also contributed to the rise in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for May ended up $1.32 or 1.64 percent at $81.95 a barrel.