Asian Markets Mostly Higher On China Boost

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Tuesday, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, as traders welcomed China's announcement of a slew of measures over the weekend to bolster the country's equity market as well as fuel an increase in spending and drive economic growth. The resultant firming of commodity prices also aided sentiment. Asian markets closed mostly higher on Monday.

China put forth stimulus to ease market unrest and drive economic growth. It reduced stamp duty on stock trades by 50 percent and will slow down the pace of initial public offerings. China's securities regulator also approved the launch of 37 retail funds.

The Australian stock market is notably higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving to a tad below the 7,200 level, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, with gains across most sectors, led by mining and energy stocks amid firmer commodity prices.

Traders also look ahead to an upcoming speech by incoming Reserve Bank of Australia governor Michele Bullock later in the day for clues on the outlook for domestic interest rates and the broader economy. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 27.30 points or 0.38 percent to 7,187.10, after touching a high of 7,196.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 26.90 points or 0.37 percent to 7,392.80. Australian stocks closed notably higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is adding almost 1 percent, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are gaining more than 1 percent each. Mineral Resources is surging more than 6 percent after it reported a 40 percent jump in full-year revenues. Oil stocks are higher. Beach energy, Santos, Origin Energy and Woodside Energy are all edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each. Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is edging down 0.1 percent and WiseTech Global is losing almost 1 percent, while Appen is advancing almost 3 percent and Xero is edging up 0.3 percent. Zip is surging almost 7 percent after reporting a full-year loss that halved from last year. Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star resources is edging up 0.4 percent, Evolution Mining is gaining almost 1 percent, Gold Road Resources is advancing almost 3 percent and Newcrest Mining is up more than 1 percent. Resolute Mining is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while Westpac and ANZ Banking are gaining almost 1 percent each.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.644 on Tuesday. The Japanese stock market is modestly higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 32,200 level, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, with the market paring early gains after domestic data showed unemployment rate surprisingly increasing in July. The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 32,225.72, up 55.73 points or 0.17 percent, after touching a high of 32,389.12 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Monday. Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is edging up 0.3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is also edging up 0.5 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.4 percent and Toyota is also edging down 0.5 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing almost 1 percent and Screen Holdings is declining almost 2 percent, while Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.3 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is edging up 0.3 percent.

The major exporters are mixed. Canon and Sony are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is gaining almost 1 percent. Panasonic is losing almost 1 percent.

Among the other major gainers, Tokyo Electric Power is gaining almost 6 percent, Nippon Sheet Glass is adding almost 5 percent and Mitsui E&S is advancing more than 3 percent, while CyberAgent, Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Isetan Mitsukoshi and J. Front Retailing are up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, there are no other major losers.

In economic news, the unemployment rate in Japan came in at a seasonally adjusted 2.7 percent in July, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said on Tuesday. That exceeded expectations for 2.5 percent, which would have been unchanged from the June reading. The jobs-to-applicant ratio ticked down to 1.29, shy of forecasts for 1.30, which again would have been unchanged. The participation rate was 63.1 percent, matching forecasts and steady from the June level.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 146 yen-range on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong is up 1,5 percent, while China, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Indonesia are higher by between 0.1 and 0.6 percent each. New Zealand is relatively flat.

On the Wall Street, stocks settled firmly in positive territory on Monday despite seeing some wild swings during the course of the day's session.

The major averages all closed notably higher. The Dow settled with a gain of 213.18 points or 0.62 percent at 3,560.08. The S&P 500 ended up 27.57 points or 0.63 percent at 4,433.28, while the Nasdaq climbed 114.48 points or 0.84 percent at 13,705.13.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. The Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 ended higher by 1.03 percent, and 1.32 percent, respectively. The U.K. market remained closed for Late Summer Bank Holiday.

Crude oil prices edged higher on Monday on optimism that energy operations in the Gulf Coast of Florida may be affected by severe weather conditions this week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $0.27 or 0.3 percent at $80.10 a barrel.