Asian Markets Trading Mostly Lower

Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Tuesday, following the mostly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, on concerns about the outlook for inflation following crude oil’s sharp uptick and caution ahead of major central bank meetings this week, including the U.S. Fed. Asian markets closed mixed on Monday.

Also, reports that China is seeing its worst Covid outbreak in more than two years have raised concerns over demand and supply chain.

Meanwhile, traders are hopeful the Russia-Ukraine peace talks that resumed today could lead to a diplomatic solution to the ongoing war.

The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points, but traders will pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about further rate hikes. The central bank is likely to continue raising rates over the comings months in an effort to combat elevated inflation.

The Australian stock market is modestly lower on Tuesday, giving up the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,100 level, following the mostly negative cues from Wall Street on Monday, on inflation concerns amid the spike in crude oil prices and anxiety ahead of major central bank meetings, including the U.S. Fed, during the week on interest rates. Traders also continue to monitor developments surrounding the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 43.30 points or 0.61 percent to 7,106.10, after hitting a low of 7,080.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 57.00 points or 0.77 percent to 7,365.20. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is losing more than 3 percent, Fortescue Metals sliding almost 6 percent, OZ Minerals is declining almost 4 percent, Rio Tinto is slipping more than 4 percent and Mineral Resources is down more than 5 percent.

Rio Tinto has launched a A$3.7 billion bid to assume full ownership of the Canadian company that owns 66 percent of the giant Oyu Tolgoi copper project in Mongolia.

Oil stocks are lower, with Beach energy losing almost 5 percent, Woodside Petroleum declining more than 3 percent, Santos slipping almost 4 percent and Origin Energy down almost 2 percent.

Among tech stocks, Appen is losing more than 2 percent, WiseTech Global is down almost 2 percent, Block is declining more than 5 percent and Zip is slipping almost 7 percent, while Xero is edging up 0.4 percent.

Gold miners are weak. Evolution Mining and Gold Road Resources are declining more than 4 percent each, while Newcrest Mining is losing more than 2 percent, Resolute Mining is slipping almost 6 percent and Northern Star Resources is down more than 2 percent.

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

In other news, shares in Vortiv are soaring 11.5 percent after its subsidiary Transaction Solutions International (TSI) inked a five-year agreement with the Central Bank of India to install 2,550 ATMs around the sub-continent.

Shares in Uniti are halted on soaring 17 percent in early trade after speculation that the telco infrastructure group is a takeover target.

In economic news, the Reserve Bank of Australia will release the minutes from its March 1 monetary policy meeting. At the meeting, the RBA left its key interest rate unchanged at a record low 0.10 percent and repeated to maintain its supportive stance until inflation returns to the target range of 2 to 3 percent in a sustainable manner.

House prices in Australia were up 4.7 percent on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2021, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday. That exceeded expectations for a gain of 3.9 percent and was down from the 5.0 percent increase in the third quarter. On a yearly basis, house prices jumped 23.7 percent, up from 21.7 percent. The total value of residential dwellings in Australia rose A$512.6 billion to A$9,901.6 billion in Q4, and the mean price of residential dwellings rose A$44,000 to A$920,100.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.718 on Tuesday.

The Japanese stock market is modestly higher in choppy trading on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 staying just below the 25,400 level, following the mostly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders continue to monitor developments surrounding the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis, with hopes of peace talks that resumed today leading to a diplomatic solution.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 25,385.11, up 77.26 points or 0.31 percent, after touching a high of 25,423.95 and a low of 25,219.13 earlier. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down more than 4 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.2 percent and Toyota is adding more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is edging up 0.5 percent, while Tokyo Electron is edging down 0.2 percent and Screen Holdings is flat. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is flat, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is edging up 0.3 percent and Mizuho Financial is gaining almost 1 percent.

The major exporters are mostly higher, with Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric adding more than 1 percent each, while Canon gaining almost 2 percent and Sony is up almost 1 percent.

Among the other major losers, Pacific Metals is plunging more than 17 percent and Toho Zinc is sliding more than 9 percent, while Inpex and Dowa Holdings are slipping almost 8 percent each. Sumitomo Metal Mining is losing more than 7 percent, Astellas Pharma is down more than 5 percent, Idemitsu Kosan is declining almost 5 percent and Mitsui Mining & Smelting is lower by more than 4 percent, while Mitsui & Co. and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha are sliding almost 4 percent each. Fast Retailing and JFE Holdings are down more than 3 percent each.

Conversely, Nissan Motor is gaining more than 4 percent, while Minebea Mitsumi, Nippon Sheet Glass and Subaru are adding almost 4 percent each. Asahi Group Holdings, Tokio Marine Holdings and Shionogi & Co. are more than 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 118 yen-range on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Taiwan is slipping 1.6 percent and China is down 1.1 percent, while Hong Kong South Korea and Malaysia are lower by between 0.3 and 0.7 percent each. Indonesia and Singapore are down 0.2 and 0.6 percent, respectively. New Zealand is flat.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading session on Monday, adding to the losses posted last week. The tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a particularly steep drop on the day, ending the session at its lowest closing level in over a year.

The Nasdaq plunged 262.59 points or 2 percent to 12,581.22, while the S&P 500 slid 31.20 points or 0.7 percent to 4,173.11. Meanwhile, the narrower Dow turned negative after climbing as much as 450 points but recovered to end the day up 1.05 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 32,945.24.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index surged by 2.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.8 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Monday amid easing worries about supply on reports the U.S. is likely to lift sanctions on Venezuelan oil. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $6.32 or 5.8 percent at $103.01 a barrel.