CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are exhibiting a mixed trend on Tuesday with investors mostly treading cautiously amid a lack of fresh triggers. The overnight weak close on Wall Street is weighing on sentiment to an extent. Also, following recent strong upmove, investors appear a bit reluctant to indulge in any aggressive buying for now.
In the Australian market, consumer discretionary, financial, healthcare and industrial stocks are mostly trading lower, while energy, mining and property trusts stocks are trading mixed.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index, which declined to 5,160.6, is currently trading at 5,178, down 31 points or 0.6 percent from its previous close. The broader All Ordinaries index is down 30.4 points or 0.6 percent at 5,155, off the day's low of 5,138.5.
Among bank stocks, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank and Westpac (WBK) are down 0.8 to 1.2 percent, while ANZ Bank is trading lower by 1.8 percent.
In the mining space, BHP Billiton (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RIO) are down 0.5 percent and 1 percent, respectively.
Downer EDI is trading lower by more than 9 percent. Monadelphous Group is trading 5.5 percent down and UGL is down with a loss of about 4 percent.
ALS and Lend Lease Group are trading lower by about 2.3 percent. Arrium, Ramsay Healthcare, Harvey Norman Holdings, Leighton Holdings, Asciano, Adelaide Brighton, Atlas Iron, Orica, APA Group and James Hardie Industries are all trading lower by 2 to 2.8 percent.
Among the notable gainers, Perseus Mining is trading higher by more than 6.5 percent, Newcrest Mining is up 5 percent and Regis Resources is advancing with a gain of 4.4 percent. Iluka Resources is trading higher by 3.5 percent and PanAust is up 2.7 percent.
On the economic front, the Conference Board's Index of Leading Economic Indicators for Australia increased by 0.1 percent in March, the Board reported Tuesday. It marked the third straight monthly Leading Index gain.
The board said gains from building approvals, money supply and the yield spread more than offset a negative contribution from stock prices. The board's Coincident Index, which measure current conditions, increased 0.2 percent.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar opened higher against the U.S. dollar. In early trades, the Aussie was quoting at US$0.9812, up from Monday's close of US$0.9757.
After opening notably lower on profit taking, the Japanese market rebounded and had a brief spell in positive territory as the yen lost some ground against the U.S. dollar. However, with the mood quite cautious following recent strong gains, the market retreated and is currently trading marginally down.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which declined to 15,264.4 in early trades but rallied to 15,388.4 subsequently, is currently trading at 15,353, down 7.8 points from its previous close.
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. is up nearly 22 percent following the company beginning production of a new minicar at its Mizushima plant in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture.
GS Yuasa is trading 17 percent up, while Kobe Steel, Tokyo Electric Power and Tokuyama Corp. are up 10 to 13 percent.
Sharp Corp. shares are up 8 percent on reports the company is planning to sell assets worth almost $400 million.
Pacific Metals, Mitsui Chemicals, Nisshin Steel Holdings, Nippon Light Metal Holdings, Yokagawa Electric Corp., Fujitsu, JFE Holdings, Hitachi Zosen Corp., Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. and Nitto Boseki are all trading higher by 7 to 9 percent.
Showa Denko KK, JX Holdings, Daikin Industries, Mitsubishi Materials, Sumitomo Chemicals, Mitsui OSK Lines, Inpex Corp. and Nippon Electric Glass are also up sharply.
Among the losers, Tokyo Dome, Toho Co., Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings, Japan Tobacco, Trend Micro and Shinsei Bank are down 2 to 4 percent.
Nippon Meat Packers is down nearly 2 percent on reports that food producers may struggle to raise prices as import costs rise. Sony Financial Holdings Inc is down by about 2 percent on lower earnings forecast.
Softbank Corp., Obayashi Corp., Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma, Fast Retailing, Yahoo Japan, Osaka Gas and Shionogi are also trading sharply lower.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the lower 102 yen range in early deals in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 102.62 to the U.S. dollar.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea are trading weak, while Shanghai, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan are trading in positive territory.
On Wall Street, stocks ended modestly lower on Monday after showing a lack of direction throughout much of the session as traders were reluctant to make any significant moves amid a lack of major U.S. economic data.
The major averages ended the day below the unchanged line but off their lows for the session. The Dow dipped 19.1 points or 0.1 percent to 15,335.3, the Nasdaq edged down 2.5 points or 0.1 percent to 3,496.4 and the S&P 500 slipped 1.2 points or 0.1 percent to 1,666.3.
Major European markets moved higher on Monday. While the German DAX index ended the day up by 0.7 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index and the French CAC 40 index both gained 0.5 percent.
U.S. crude oil ended settled higher for a fourth straight session on Monday, ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee meet outcome, tracking rising global equity markets after the dollar weakened against a basket of major currencies.
Crude for July delivery ended up $0.64 or 0.7 percent at $96.93 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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