Asian Shares Mixed In Thin Holiday Trade

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks ended mixed in thin holiday trade on Tuesday as investors watched the latest developments in trade negotiations and awaited further policy action from Beijing to boost consumption.

The dollar struggled against strong Asian currencies, a day after the Taiwanese dollar experienced its most significant surge since 1988.

Holding an emergency press briefing, the country's central bank clarified that the currency's fluctuation was influenced by market speculation surrounding ongoing trade negotiations rather than any official requirement from the U.S.

Gold jumped more than 1 percent to reach a two-week high in Asian trading while oil prices rose over 2 percent amid signs of rising tensions in the Middle East.

Chinese stocks ended sharply higher as trading resumed after the Labour Day holidays.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite index rallied 1.13 percent to 3,316.11amid signs of Washington and Beijing taking a more conciliatory approach to resolving trade disputes.

China's services activity deteriorated more than expected in April to hit a 7-month low, a private survey showed, raising concerns about the state of the economy but fueling speculation over new stimulus measures.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index jumped 0.70 percent to 22,662.71, with tech stocks such as Alibaba and Baidu leading the surge on optimism over Sino-U.S. talks.

Japanese and South Korean markets were closed for public holidays.

Australian markets ended little changed with a negative bias after a choppy session.

The S&P/ASX 200 ended marginally lower at 8,151.40, extending losses for a second straight session as data showed building approvals fell by 8.8 percent in March.

Gold miners rebounded, with Northern Star Resources surging 3.7 percent and Resolute Mining climbing almost 11 percent as bullion soared to a two-week high ahead of interest-rate decisions from the Federal Reserve and the Bank of England.

Rising U.S. Treasury yields weakened demand for high-yielding Aussie bank stocks, with NAB falling 1.5 percent and Westpac Banking losing 2 percent.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index finished marginally lower at 12,421.09. Skycity Entertainment Group shares slumped 6.1 percent after the company trimmed its earnings forecast.

U.S. stocks saw considerable volatility before ending lower overnight as business leaders flagged growing anxiety over new U.S. tariffs.

Markets, however, ended off their day's lows as data showed stronger-than-expected service sector activity in April and the Bloomberg reported that India has proposed zero tariffs on steel, auto components and pharmaceuticals on a reciprocal basis up to a certain quantity of imports in its trade negotiations with the U.S.

The S&P 500 fell 0.6 percent to snap its nine-day winning streak, the longest in over two decades. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 0.7 percent and the Dow dipped 0.2 percent.