Asian Markets Mixed Amid Cautious Trades

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mixed on Tuesday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders seem cautious and reluctant to make significant moves amid uncertainty about the pace of economic growth amid rising interest rates. Hopes of additional economic stimulus package in China helped limit downside. Asian markets closed mostly higher on Monday.

The Australian stock market is slightly lower on Tuesday, giving up some of the gains in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,200 level, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders remain cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia's monetary policy decision later in the day.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 6.00 points or 0.08 percent to 7,240.10, after hitting a low of 7,235.80 and a high of 7,264.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 3.80 points or 0.05 percent to 7,439.00. Australian stocks closed notably higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, Fortescue Metals and Mineral Resources are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Rio Tinto and BHP Group are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each. Oil stocks are mixed. Woodside Energy and Beach energy are edging up 0.2 percent each, while Santos and Origin Energy are edging down 0.3 percent each. Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block, Xero and WiseTech Global are edging down 0.4 to 0.5 percent each, while Appen is losing almost 1 percent. Zip is gaining almost 3 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Gold Road Resources and Resolute Mining are gaining almost 4 percent each, while Northern Star resources is adding more than 2 percent, Evolution Mining is advancing almost 3 percent and Newcrest Mining is up almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and ANZ Banking are edging down 0.1 percent each, while National Australia Bank is edging up 0.3 percent.

In other news, shares in Costa Group are soaring almost 11 percent after the horticultural company revealed it has received a $1.4 billion takeover offer from Paine Schwartz Partners.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.667 on Tuesday.

The Japanese stock market is significantly lower on Tuesday, giving up some of the gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 falling below the 33,500 level, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, as some traders booked profits after the recent surge in the market to take the index to 33-year highs. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 33,446.78, down 306.55 points or 0.91 percent, after hitting a low of 33,338.78 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing almost 1 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is declining more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing almost 1 percent, while Toyota is edging up 0.1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Screen Holdings are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is flat.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is gaining almost 2 percent, Mizuho Financial is adding 2.5 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is up almost 1 percent.

The major exporters are mostly lower. Mitsubishi Electric is losing almost 1 percent, while Panasonic Sony and Canon are declining more than 1 percent each. Among the other major losers, Daiichi Sankyo is plummeting more than 14 percent, while Daikin Industries and Tobu Railway are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Rakuten Group is surging 5.5 percent, while Resona Holdings and Citizen Watch are adding almost 3 percent each.

In other news, shares in Daiichi Sankyo are plunging more than 14 percent after it provided an update on its lung cancer drug being developed with AstraZeneca that disappointed the market.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 144 yen-range on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Indonesia are higher by between 0.1 and 0.5 percent each, while China, Singapore, South Korea and Malaysia are lower by between 0.1 and 0.3 percent each. On the Wall Street, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Monday following the strong upward move seen last week. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before closing modestly higher.

The Nasdaq rose 28.85 points or 0.2 percent to 13,816.77, the S&P 500 inched up 5.21 points or 0.1 percent to 4,455.59 and the Dow crept up 10.87 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 34,418.47. With the uptick, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached their best closing levels in over a year.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index fell by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Monday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand following a drop in global factory activity in the month of June. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended lower by $0.85 or about 1.2% at $69.79 a barrel.