Asian Shares Mixed In Muted Trade; Indian Shares Slump

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks ended mixed on Tuesday, with Indian markets falling deep into the red as trends showed BJP falling below the majority mark in the Lok Sabha elections, contradicting the exit polls.

India's Sensex was down 4.5 percent, with selling seen across the board. Losses elsewhere remained capped as weak U.S. data rekindled hopes for interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year.

The U.S. dollar held steady against its major rivals in Asian trading after suffering large losses in the New York trading session overnight.

Gold was modestly lower while oil prices fell more than 1 percent, adding to over 3 percent losses in the previous session on worries about increased supply later in 2024.

China's Shanghai Composite index rose 0.41 percent to 3,091.20 following mixed signals from key purchasing managers index data over the past two sessions.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index edged up 0.22 percent to 18,444.11 after recent stimulus measures announced for the property sector.

Japanese shares fell for the first time in three sessions as a firm yen as well as a safety test scandal weighed on auto stocks.

The Nikkei average slipped 0.22 percent to 38,837.46 while the broader Topix index closed 0.38 percent lower at 2,787.48. Toyota Motor gave up 1.3 percent and Honda Motor shed 2.2 percent.

Sony rose nearly 2 percent as speculation the electronics and media giant could acquire U.S. film studio Paramount Global faded.

Seoul stocks ended lower on profit taking after strong gains in the previous session. The Kospi average dipped 0.76 percent to 2,662.10. Financials lost ground, with KB Financial and Shinhan Financial falling 2.1 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively. Official data revealed that South Korea's headline inflation slowed to a 10-month low but still remained above the central bank's 2.0 percent target.

Australian markets ended slightly lower amid losses in heavyweight mining and energy stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.31 percent to 7,737.10 ahead of Q1 GDP data due on Wednesday. The broader All Ordinaries index settled 0.37 percent lower at 7,994.10.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index inched up 0.11 percent to 11,880.54.

U.S. stocks ended mixed overnight, Treasury yields dipped, and the dollar hit a three-week low as soft factory activity and construction spending data added to signs the U.S. economy is gradually slowing down.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.6 percent as Nvidia announced its next generation of Artificial Intelligence chips. The S&P 500 inched up 0.1 percent while the Dow dipped 0.3 percent.