Asian Shares Mostly Lower As Investors Await Fed Minutes

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks drifted lower on Tuesday, as investors reacted to weak purchasing manager index reports from Japan and Australia and kept a wary eye on the latest geopolitical developments.

U.S. President Joe Biden made an unannounced visit to Kyiv ahead of the one-year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine amid mounting concerns over China's stand on Russia and Ukraine.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned China of consequences should it provide material support to Russia and North Korea fired more missiles.

Chinese shares were seeing modest gains, with the Shanghai Composite index rising 0.4 percent on optimism around post-COVID economic recovery. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 0.3 percent.

Japan's Nikkei index slipped 0.2 percent as a business survey showed manufacturing activity in the country contracted at the fastest pace in 30 months in February.

Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.4 percent as data showed business activity in the country shrank again in February. Mining giant BHP fell over 2 percent after reporting a sharp decline in its half-year profit.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index slipped 0.3 percent ahead of Wednesday's RBNZ interest-rate decision.

Seoul stocks were little changed with a negative bias.

Gold edged higher in Asian trading, oil prices fell, and the dollar weakened as investors awaited minutes of the Fed's latest policy meeting due to be released on Wednesday for more clarity on the outlook for inflation and the pace of interest-rate increases going ahead.

The U.S. markets were closed on Monday for Presidents Day holiday.

European stocks ended narrowly mixed on Monday after a choppy day of trading. The pan-European STOXX 600 ended flat with a positive bias.

The German DAX finished marginally lower and France's CAC 40 index eased 0.2 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 inched up 0.1 percent.