Asian Shares Mixed In Thin Holiday Trade

(RTTNews) - Asian stocks ended mixed on Tuesday as the U.S. government shutdown dragged on and the French political turmoil deepened.

Trading volumes were thin as many regional markets, including China, Hong Kong and South Korea remained closed for holidays.

Japanese markets gave up early gains to end on a flat note as the yield on Japan's 30-year government bond rose to a record high and 10-year yields marked fresh 17-year peaks amid bets on a revival in big spending and loose monetary policy.

Meanwhile, investors cheered data that showed Japanese household spending rose at a faster pace than expected in August.

The Nikkei average hit a new peak before giving up all gains to end little changed at 47,950.88. The broader Topix index also ended on a flat note at 3,227.91.

Tech shares followed their U.S. peers high, with Advantest rising 0.6 percent and SoftBank Group adding 1.1 percent.

Australian markets ended lower, with discretionary stocks coming under selling pressure after a survey showed Australia's consumer confidence slipped to a six-month low in October amid renewed doubts about prospects for future interest rate cuts.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.27 percent to 8,956.80 while the broader All Ordinaries index closed 0.28 percent lower at 9,253.60. Breville lost 4.5 percent and JB Hi-Fi declined 1.5 percent.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX-50 index rose 0.31 percent to 13,531.29, hitting its highest level since early 2021 ahead of a central bank decision this week, with investors widely anticipating a cut to the official cash rate.

The U.S. dollar was resilient against its peers in Asian trade while gold dipped slightly after hitting a new record high at $3,977.45 per ounce due to geopolitical tensions and rate-cut expectations.

Oil also traded lower after gaining more than 1 percent in the previous session following a smaller-than-expected November output hike by OPEC+.

Overnight, U.S. stocks ended mostly higher after OpenAI announced plans for a 1GW data centre using AMD's MI45 chips starting in 2026.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.7 percent and the S&P 500 added 0.4 percent to reach new record closing highs.

The narrower Dow slipped 0.1 percent as the federal government shutdown dragged on for a sixth day, delaying the release of key economic indicators.