Asian markets follow Wall Street lower

(RTTNews) – Asian stock markets were mostly lower Tuesday, following largely negative signals from Wall Street overnight as traders largely remained cautious and appeared reluctant to take meaningful action ahead of some key economic data, including a report on consumer price inflation in the United States. would be preferred by the American Fed. Asian markets closed lower on Monday.

Inflation data could have a notable impact on the interest rate outlook, with Fed officials saying they need greater confidence that inflation is slowing before cutting rates.

Erasing the slight gains of the previous session, the Australian stock market is slightly lower on Tuesday, following largely negative signals from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 remains above the 7,600 level, with weakness across most sectors, led by technology and mining stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 lost 15.70 points or 0.21 per cent to 7,637.10, after hitting a low of 7,610.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries index is down 14.60 points or 0.19 percent at 7,893.50. Australian stocks closed slightly higher on Monday.

Among the major mining companies, Fortescue Metals is losing almost 2 percent, Rio Tinto is down more than 1 percent, BHP Group is down almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is down slightly by 0.3 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Santos is up slightly by 0.1 percent and Woodside Energy adds almost 1 percent, while Origin Energy and Beach Energy lose more than 1 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Zip plunges more than 12 percent, Afterpay owner Block is down more than 5 percent and Xero is down slightly by 0.1 percent, while WiseTech Global gains more than 1 percent. cent and Appen jumped more than 8 percent.

Gold mining companies are mostly inferior. Evolution Mining loses almost 2%, Northern Star Resources loses almost 3%, Resolute Mining loses almost 4%, Gold Road Resources loses more than 1% and Newmont loses more than 3%.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking rose 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Westpac edged down 0.2 percent.

Separately, Alumina shares fell more than 7 percent after the buyback target was changed to a net loss for the full year and withheld the final dividend.

Reece Group shares jump more than 12 per cent after reporting a strong first-half profit and declaring an interim dividend.

In economic news, consumer prices in Japan increased by 2.2% year-on-year in January, the Ministry of the Interior and Communications announced on Tuesday. This figure is in line with forecasts and down from 2.6% in December. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, inflation increased by 0.1 percent, in line with expectations and unchanged from December’s figure.

Core consumer prices, which exclude volatile food costs, rose 2.0 percent year-on-year. That beat expectations for a 1.9 percent increase and was down from 2.3 percent the previous month.

On the foreign exchange market, the Australian dollar is trading at $0.653 on Tuesday.

Adding to the previous session’s losses, the Japanese stock market was slightly lower on Tuesday after opening in the green, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 39,200 level, following largely negative signals from Wall Street overnight, traders reacting to national data. which showed that inflation in Japan fell to its lowest level since March 2022.

This follows recent data showing that the Japanese economy fell into a technical recession in the fourth quarter. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed the morning session at 39,173.92, down 59.79 points or 0.15 percent, after hitting a new all-time high of 39,426.29 earlier. Japanese stocks ended slightly lower on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group gained more than 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing added nearly 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is down slightly by 0.5 percent, while Toyota gains almost 1 percent.

In technology, Advantest is down slightly by 0.4 percent, while Tokyo Electron is gaining almost 1 percent and Screen Holdings is up more than 2 percent.

In banking, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mizuho Financial each gain more than 2 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial adds more than 1 percent.

Major exporters are mostly higher. Panasonic gains almost 3 percent, Canon adds more than 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric advances almost 2 percent, while Sony is down slightly by 0.2 percent.

Among other big gainers, Hitachi Zosen gains nearly 6 percent, while Fukuoka Financial and Otsuka Holdings each add more than 4 percent. Osaka Gas and Kobe Steel are up almost 4 percent each, while JFE Holdings, Daiwa Securities, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Tokyo Gas and Nippon Steel are up more than 3 percent each. Nomura Holdings, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Concordia Financial, Shizuoka Financial and IHI are up almost 3% each.

Conversely, Rakuten Group lost more than 3 percent, while Sumitomo Realty & Development and Mercari fell almost 3 percent each.

On the foreign exchange market, the US dollar traded around 150 yen on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan are down 0.2 to 1.0 percent each, while China and Malaysia are up by 0.3 percent each.

On Wall Street, stocks ended on a negative note Monday, and the major averages weakened after a slightly positive start as investors largely remained cautious ahead of some key economic data, including a report on government spending. consumption.

Among the major averages, the Dow finished down 62.30 points or 0.16 percent at 39,069.23. The S&P 500 ended with a loss of 19.27 points or 0.38 percent to 5,069.53. The Nasdaq, which spent much of the day’s session in positive territory despite a choppy move, ended down 20.57 points or 0.13 percent at 15,976.25.

Major European markets also saw weakness on the day. Britain’s FTSE 100 index fell 0.29 percent, and France’s CAC 40 fell 0.46 percent, while Germany’s DAX edged up 0.02 percent.

Crude oil prices pared initial losses and climbed on Monday as continued attacks by Houthi militants on the Red Sea route sparked concerns over supplies. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for April ended up $1.09 or 1.4 percent at $77.58 a barrel.

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.