Asian Markets Trading Mixed

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mixed on Tuesday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, amid lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates following last week's US Federal Reserve meeting. Traders also await the release of the US consumer price inflation data on Thursday, which could affect the outlook for interest rates. Asian markets closed mostly higher on Monday.

Economists expect a modest slowdown in the annual rate of consumer price growth, which could add to optimism about a slowdown in the pace of rate hikes.

The Australian stock market modestly higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving to nearly the 7,000 mark, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, led by gains in technology, gold miners and financial stocks, even as traders remain cautious amid concerns about the outlook for interest rate hikes. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 16.40 points or 0.24 percent to 6,950.10, after touching a high of 6,968.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 13.10 points or 0.18 percent to 7,142.30. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while OZ Minerals is adding almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is gaining more than 3 percent. BHP Group is flat.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy and Santos are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Woodside Energy is edging up 0.1 percent. Origin Energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 3 percent, WiseTech Global is up almost 1 percent, Zip is advancing more than 2 percent and Appen is adding more than 1 percent, while Xero is losing almost 2 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Gold Road Resources is gaining almost 2 percent, Resolute Mining is advancing more than 2 percent, Newcrest Mining is up almost 1 percent and Northern Star Resources adding more than 1 percent, while Evolution Mining is edging down 0.2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and are gaining more than 1 percent, ANZ Banking is edging up 0.5 percent, National Australia Bank is adding almost 1 percent and Westpac is advancing almost 2 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.647 on Tuesday.

The Japanese stock market is sharply higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 moving above the 27,800 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, led by gains in technology, exporters and financial stocks, even as traders remained cautious amid concerns about the outlook for interest rate hikes.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 27,879.70, up 352.06 points or 1.28 percent, after touching a high of 27,943.27 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Monday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining 4.5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining almost 2 percent and Toyota is edging up 0.4 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest and Screen Holdings are gaining almost 3 percent each, while Tokyo Electron is advancing almost 4 percent. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining more than 1 percent, while Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are adding almost 1 percent each.

The major exporters are higher, with Sony gaining almost 4 percent, Panasonic edging up 0.5 percent and Canon adding almost 1 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is flat. Among the other major gainers, Yamaha Motor is soaring almost 10 percent, Hitachi Zosen is surging more than 8 percent, Sharp is gaining more than 6 percent, Dai-ichi Life is adding more than 5 percent, while Tokai Carbon is advancing almost 5 percent and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha is up more than 4 percent, while Sumitomo Realty & Development, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Hitachi Construction Machinery and NEXON are all rising more than 3 percent each. Kikkoman is up almost 3 percent.

Conversely, NTT Data is losing almost 5 percent and Showa Denko K.K. is declining more than 3 percent.

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

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan are higher by between 0.4 and 1.2 percent each, while New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Indonesia are lower by between 0.2 and 0.8 percent each. On Wall Street, stocks turned in a lackluster performance for much of the trading day on Monday before rallying in the latter part of the session to add to the strong gains posted last Friday.

The Dow showed a notable move to the upside, ending the day up 423.78 points or 1.3 percent at 32,827.00, the broader S&P 500 also jumped 36.25 points or 1.0 percent to 3,806.80, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 89.27 points or 0.9 percent to 10,564.52.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index ended the day nearly unchanged and the German DAX Index rose by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices saw considerable volatility on Monday amid uncertainty about the outlook for Chinese energy demand due to conflicting reports about the country's COVID-19 policies. After spiking earlier, West Texas Intermediate finished lower by $0.82 or 0.9 percent at $91.79 a barrel.