Asian Markets Mostly Lower

Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Tuesday, despite the slightly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the US Fed’s monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. They also look ahead to the monetary policy decisions by the US Fed, the Bank of Japan and the Bank of England this week. Asian markets closed mixed on Monday.

The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, but traders will pay close attention to the accompanying statement and the central bank’s projections for clues about the outlook for rates.

While CME Group’s FedWatch Tool is currently indicating a 99.0 percent chance the Fed will leave rates unchanged this week, the outlook for the November meeting is somewhat more mixed.

The Australian stock market is notably lower on Tuesday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling to a tad above the 7,200 level, despite the slightly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, dragged by weakness in technology and financial stocks, partially offset by gains in gold miners and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 26.00 points or 0.36 percent to 7,204.40, after hitting a low of 7,187.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 26.90 points or 0.36 percent to 7,401.20. Australian stocks closed notably lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 1 percent, Rio Tinto is edging down 0.2 percent and Fortescue Metals is down more than 1 percent. Mineral Resources is flat.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is gaining almost 1 percent, while Woodside Energy and Beach energy are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each. Origin Energy is edging down 0.1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing 4.5 percent and Zip is declining almost 2 percent, while WiseTech Global and Xero are edging down 0.3 to 0.5 percent each. Appen is edging up 0.4 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star resources, Newcrest Mining and Resolute Mining are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Evolution Mining is adding 1.5 percent and Gold Road Resources is advancing almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank are all losing almost 1 percent each.

In economic news, the Reserve Bank of Australia will on Tuesday release the minutes from its September meeting. At the meeting, Australia’s central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4.10 percent for the third straight meeting. The interest rate paid on exchange settlement balances also was kept unchanged at 4.00 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.643 on Tuesday.

The Japanese stock market is significantly lower on Tuesday, giving some of the gains in the previous two sessions, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 33,200 level, despite the slightly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with a mixed trend in the market as traders remain cautious ahead of the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy decision due on Friday.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 33,129.23, down 403.86 points or 1.20 percent, after hitting a low of 33,128.86 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Friday ahead of the holiday on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 4 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining almost 3 percent and Toyota is adding more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Tokyo Electron are plunging more than 5 percent each, while Screen Holdings is declining more than 4 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining almost 2 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is adding more than 1 percent and Mizuho Financial is up almost 1 percent.

The major exporters are mixed. Canon and Mitsubishi Electric are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Sony is losing almost 2 percent and Panasonic is down almost 1 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Renesas Electronics is plunging almost 5 percent, while Mitsui E&S and Hoya are losing more than 3 percent. Keisei Electric Railway, CyberAgent and Recruit Holdings are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Mazda Motor is gaining almost 5 percent and Nippon Yusen K.K. is adding more than 4 percent, while Mitsubishi Motors and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines are advancing more than 3 percent each. Yokohama Rubber, Sompo Holdings and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha are up almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 147 yen-range on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are lower by between 0.1and 0.4 percent each, while Indonesia is up 0.2 percent. China and Hong Kong are relatively flat.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Monday following the volatility seen to close out the previous week. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually ended the session slightly higher. While the S&P 500 edged up 3.21 points or 0.1 percent to 4,453.53, the Dow inched up 6.06 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 34,624.30 and the Nasdaq crept up 1.90 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 13,710.24.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index plunged by 1.4 percent, the German DAX Index dove by 1.1 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.7 percent.

Crude oil prices settled higher on Monday, rising for a third straight session on global supply issues and a weaker dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October rose $0.71 or 0.8 percent at $91.48 a barrel, the highest settlement this year.