Asian Markets Trading Mixed

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mixed on Tuesday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of key US inflation data later in the week, which is expected to show a slowdown in the pace of annual price growth, could impact the outlook for interest rates. Asian markets closed mostly lower on Monday.

Traders also awaited the US Fed Chair Jerome Powell's congressional testimony later in the week for directional cues.

Recouping some of the losses in the previous two sessions, the Australian stock market is trading significantly higher on Tuesday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 7,800 level, with gains across most sectors led by iron ore miners, energy and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 54.30 points or 0.70 percent to 7,817.50, after touching a high of 7,829.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 51.40 points or 0.64 percent to 8,063.60. Australian stocks closed significantly lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is adding almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is advancing almost 2 percent, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are gaining more than 1 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are edging up 0.5 percent each, while Santos is adding almost 1 percent. Beach energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, Appen is gaining more than 1 percent, while WiseTech Global and Zip are adding almost 1 percent each. Afterpay owner Block is declining more than 1 percent and Xero is edging down 0.2 percent. Gold miners are mixed. Gold Road Resources is edging down 0.5 percent and Resolute Mining is declining more than 2 percent, while Northern Star resources, Newmont and Evolution Mining are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Westpac is adding more than 1 percent and National Australia Bank is edging up 0.5 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.674 on Tuesday.

Recouping the losses in the previous two sessions, the Japanese stock market is sharply higher on Tuesday, with the Nikkei 225 moving more than 600 points to well above the 41,300 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in index heavyweights and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in automakers and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 41,386.80, up 606.10 points or 1.49 percent, after touching a high of 39,929.67 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly lower on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding almost 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing 1.5 percent and Toyota is declining more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Screen Holdings are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is advancing almost 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are losing more than 1 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is down almost 1 percent.

The major exporters are mixed. Panasonic is losing more than 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is down almost 1 percent, while Sony is gaining almost 3 percent and Canon is adding almost 1 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Fujikura is soaring more than 8 percent, Resonac Holdings is surging almost 6 percent, Hitachi is gaining almost 4 percent and Furukawa Electric is adding more than 3 percent.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In economic news, the M2 money stock in Japan was up 1.5 percent on year in June, the Bank of Japan said on Tuesday - coming in at 1,257.5 trillion yen. That was shy of expectations for a gain of 2.0 percent and down from 1.9 percent in May. The M3 money stock was up an annual 1.0 percent at 1,610.0 trillion yen, easing from 1.3 percent in the previous month.

The L money stock gained 3.0 percent on year at 2,178.5 trillion yen, down from 3.3 percent a month earlier. For the second quarter of 2024, M2 was up 1.8 percent on year, M3 rose 1.3 percent on year and L gained 3.0 percent on year.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 160 yen-range on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia are higher by between 0.1 and 0.4 percent each, while New Zealand, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan are lower by between 0.1 and 0.7 percent each.

On Wall Street, stocks ended mixed on Monday, turning a bit sluggish after a fairly good start. Among the major averages, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 moved on to record highs, while the Dow ended in negative territory. Optimism about the outlook for interest rates aided stocks earlier in the session

The Dow edged down 31.08 points or 0.08 percent to 39,344.79. The S&P 500 ended higher by 5.66 points or 0.1 percent to 5,572.85, while the Nasdaq advanced 50.98 points or 0.28 percent to 18,403.74.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended down 0.13 percent, France's CAC 40 closed lower by 0.63 percent, and Germany's DAX settled 0.02 percent down.

Crude oil prices fell on Monday after Hurricane Beryl forced the shutdown of some oil export facilities near Houston. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down $0.83 or 1 percent at $82.33 a barrel.