Asian Markets Mostly Higher On Wall Street Cues

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Tuesday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with traders remaining cautiously optimistic as they believe the heavy selling in recent sessions has been overdone. They also await the US Fed's monetary policy decision on Wednesday. Asian markets closed mostly lower on Monday.

The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by another 75 basis points, although some see an outside chance for a 100 basis point rate hike. CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 82.0 percent chance of a 75 basis points rate hike and a 18.0 percent chance of a 100 basis point rate hike.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has already raised its key interest rate by a half-percentage point earlier in the day. Apart from this, the Bank of England, the People's Bank of China, the Bank of Japan, and the Swiss National Bank, are all scheduled to announce their interest rate decisions this week.

The Australian stock market is significantly higher on Tuesday, recouping some of the losses in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 just below the 6,800 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in mining and energy stocks amid a rebound in commodity prices. Financial stocks also gained.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 82.20 points or 1.22 percent to 6,802.10, after touching a high of 6,807.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 80.10 points or 1.15 percent to 7,028.70. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto is gaining more than 1 percent, Mineral Resources is adding almost 3 percent , OZ Minerals is up almost 1 percent and BHP Group is advancing 1.5 percent. Fortescue Metals is flat.

Oil stocks are higher. Origin Energy is gaining more than 3 percent, while Beach energy, Santos and Woodside Energy are adding more than 1 percent each. Among tech stocks, Appen is gaining almost 3 percent, Xero is adding almost 1 percent, WiseTech Global is up 1.5 percent and Zip is edging up 0.3 percent, while Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 1 percent.

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

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is gaining almost 2 percent and ANZ Banking is up almost 1 percent, while Westpac and National Australia Bank are adding 1.5 percent each.

In other news, shares in Now Hope are surging more than 7 percent after the coal miner reported a surge in annual profit on soaring coal prices.

In economic news, the Reserve Bank of Australia will release the minutes from its monetary policy meeting on September 6. At the meeting, the RBA raised its key interest rate by a half-percentage point on Tuesday to bring inflation back to the target and create a more sustainable balance of demand and supply in the Australian economy. The RBA hiked the cash rate target by 50 basis points to 2.35 percent, the highest since late 2014.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.673 on Tuesday.

The Japanese stock market is modestly higher on Tuesday, recouping some of the losses in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 27,600 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, even as domestic inflation accelerated at the fastest pace since 1991. Traders were also catching up in post-holiday trading.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 27,684.35, up 116.70 points or 0.42 percent, after touching a high of 27,907.45 earlier. Japanese shares ended significantly lower on Friday ahead of the holiday on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing are gaining almost 1 percent each. Among automakers, Honda is adding almost 1 percent and Toyota is gaining more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining more than 1 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding almost 1 percent and Screen Holdings is advancing more than 2 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging up 0.3 percent.

The major exporters are mixed, with Sony and Panasonic edging down 0.4 percent each, while Canon is gaining more than 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is adding almost 2 percent. Among the other major gainers, NTN is surging more than 5 percent and Unitika is adding almost 5 percent, while TDK and Showa Denko K.K. are up almost 4 percent. JTEKT and Pacific Metals are advancing more than 3 percent each, while Casio Computer, Fujikura, Denso, Ebara, Tokai Carbon and Alps Alpine are rising almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Konami Group is declining more than 4 percent, while Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha and Nippon Yusen K.K. are losing more than 3 percent each. Mitsui O.S.K. Lines is down almost 3 percent.

In economic news, overall consumer prices in Japan were up 3.0 percent on year in August, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Tuesday. That exceeded expectations for 2.9 percent and was up from 2.6 percent in July. On a monthly basis, overall inflation rose 0.4 percent - easing from 0.5 percent in the previous month. Core CPI, which excludes volatile food prices, climbed an annual 2.8 percent - again exceeding forecasts for an increase of 2.7 and accelerating from 2.4 percent a month earlier.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 143 yen-range on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong is surging 1.2 percent, while New Zealand, China, South Korea Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia are higher by between 0.3 and 0.7 percent each.

On Wall Street, stocks recovered from an initial move to the downside and spent much of the trading session on Monday showing a lack of direction before advancing going into the close. The major averages all regained ground following the steep losses posted last week.

The major averages reached new highs late in the session, ending the day firmly positive. The Dow rose 197.26 points or 0.6 percent to 31,019.68, the Nasdaq advanced 86.62 points or 0.8 percent to 11,535.02 and the S&P 500 climbed 26.56 points or 0.7 percent to 3,899.89. Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index rose by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index decreased by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices recovered Monday after falling sharply, rebounding to end on a firm note amid concerns about supplies. A fairly steady dollar amid possible sharp hikes in interest rates limited oil's upside. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $0.62 or 0.7 percent at $85.73 a barrel.