Asian Markets A Sea Of Red

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are a sea of red on Tuesday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, amid ongoing concerns about the market valuation, especially among technology shares, and the diminishing prospects of an interest rate cut by the US Fed next month. The US dollar also strengthened against major currencies in the region. Asian markets closed mixed on Monday.

With US government agencies back to business, markets are anticipating many pending and upcoming economic releases to get a glimpse on the state of economy and for clues on which way the Fed will decide on interest rates.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating only a 55.1 percent chance the Fed will leave rates unchanged next month and a 44.9 percent chance of another quarter point rate cut.

The Australian stock market is trading sharply lower on Tuesday, reversing the slight gains in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling to near 8,500 level, with weakness across most sectors led by mining and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 133.00 points or 1.54 percent to 8,503.40, after hitting a low of 8,503.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 138.80 points or 1.56 percent to 8,776.90. Australian stocks closed slightly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is declining more than 3 percent, Fortescue is down almost 2 percent and Rio Tinto is losing more than 2 percent, while Mineral Resources is slipping more than 1 percent. Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are declining almost 2 percent each, while Santos and Beach energy are losing more than 1 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 3 percent, Zip is tumbling almost 5 percent, Appen is down more than 2 percent, WiseTech Global is sliding more than 5 percent and Xero is slipping almost 4 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Northern Star resources and Evolution Mining are losing almost 3 percent each, while Genesis Minerals is declining more than 2 percent, Newmont is slipping almost 2 percent and Resolute Mining is edging down 0.5 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are declining almost 2 percent each, while Westpac is losing more than 2 percent and ANZ Banking is down almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in James Hardie are advancing more than 7 percent after upgraded its full-year sales and earnings guidance after posting upbeat second-quarter results.

Shares in Plenti Group are surging more than 7 percent after posting a sharp jump in first-half profit as loan originations hit fresh records across all divisions.

Shares in TechnologyOne are tumbling more than 17 percent following its full-year results, despite announcing a special dividend of 10 cents and a profit rise of 17 percent.

In economic news, members of the Reserve Bank of Australia's Monetary Policy Board felt that the country's economic growth was expected to slow in the second half of 2025, minutes from the central bank's November 4 monetary policy meeting revealed on Tuesday.

At the meeting, the RBA held its cash rate at 3.60 percent, as widely expected. The bank had reduced the rate by 25 basis points each in August, May and February. The current 3.60 percent is the lowest since March 2023 as board members observed that some inflationary pressure may remain in the economy.

The minutes showed that consumer prices climbed more than expected in the September quarter, while monetary policy may need to be adjusted to the downside if the labor market were to weaken further. The members agreed that GDP was fluid and could come in stronger or weaker than expected; they also noted the shift in the composition of growth from public to private demand.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.649 on Tuesday.

The Japanese stock market is trading sharply lower on Tuesday, extending the losses in the previous two sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is tumbling nearly 2 percent to fall well below the 49,450 level, with weakness across all sectors led by exporters and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 49,432.56, down 891.35 points or 1.77 percent, after hitting a low of 49,107.31 earlier. Japanese shares ended slightly lower on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is tumbling more than 5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.5 percent and Toyota is losing more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Tokyo Electron is declining almost 4 percent, Screen Holdings is down more than 2 percent and Advantest is losing almost 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is declining almost 2 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is down more than 2 percent and Mizuho Financial is losing almost 3 percent.

The major exporters are mostly lower. Panasonic and Sony are losing almost 2 percent each, while Canon is down more than 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is tumbling more than 3 percent.

Among the other major losers, Fujikura, Sumitomo Electric Industries and Furukawa Electric are jumping more than 6 percent each, while Ibiden and M3 are surging almost 6 percent each. BayCurrent, Resonac Holdings and SHIFT are advancing more than 5 percent each, while Lasertec, Japan Steel Works, IHI, Sumco and Yaskawa Electric are gaining more than 4 percent each. Taiyo Yuden is adding almost 4 percent.

Conversely, JGC Holdings is gaining almost 4 percent and East Japan Railway is advancing almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 155-yen range on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea and Taiwan are down 1.8 and 1.1 percent, respectively. New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia are lower by between 0.1 and 0.9 percent each.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading day on Monday after showing a lack of direction early in the session. The major averages all showed notable moves to the downside, falling to their lowest closing levels in a month.

The major averages climbed off their lows going into the end of the day but remained firmly negative. The Dow tumbled 557.24 points or 1.2 percent to 46,590.24, the Nasdaq slid 192.51 points or 0.8 percent to 22,708.07 and the S&P 500 slumped 61.70 points or 0.9 percent to 6,672.41.

The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index slumped 1.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.5 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices edged lower on Tuesday as long-term oversupply concerns of a supply-demand mismatch continue to linger. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery dipped $0.09 or 0.13 percent at $60.01 per barrel.