CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are mostly higher on Tuesday following the overnight gains on Wall Street after U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to restart stalled trade negotiations.
However, gains are modest in most markets as weak manufacturing data from the U.S. and the euro zone reinforced worries about global economic growth. News that the U.S. has proposed tariffs on $4 billion of additional EU goods also dampened sentiment.
The Australian market is rising following the positive cues from Wall Street. Nevertheless, investors are cautious as they looked ahead to the Reserve Bank of Australia's monetary policy decision due later in the day.
The RBA is expected to trim its benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points, from its already record low of 1.25 percent to 1.00 percent.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is adding 20.60 points or 0.31 percent to 6,668.70, after rising to a high of 6,672.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 20.00 points or 0.30 percent to 6,751.40. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Monday.
Among the major miners, Fortescue Metals is rising more than 2 percent, Rio Tinto is advancing more than 1 percent and BHP Group is adding 0.7 percent.
Gold miners are edging higher even as gold prices fell overnight. Newcrest Mining is rising 0.2 percent and Evolution Mining is adding 0.1 percent.
In the banking sector, ANZ Banking, National Australia Bank, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank are lower in a range of 0.1 percent to 0.4 percent.
Among oil stocks, Santos is declining almost 1 percent and Oil Search is edging down 0.1 percent, while Woodside Petroleum is rising 0.5 percent following a 1 percent increase in crude oil prices overnight.
Afterpay Touch said it has appointed Anthony Eisen as its chief executive and managing director, with fellow co-founder Nick Molnar transitioning from chief executive to global chief revenue officer. Shares of the buy-now-pay-later provider are gaining 6 percent.
Blackmores announced that it has appointed former Nestle, Gillette and P&G executive Alastair Symington as its new chief executive and managing director. The vitamin and supplement maker's shares are higher by more than 1 percent.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is lower against the U.S dollar on Tuesday. The local currency was quoted at $0.6966, compared to $0.6994 on Monday.
The Japanese market is edging higher in choppy trading following the positive cues overnight from Wall Street. However, gains are modest after the market posted strong gains in the previous session.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 17.60 points or 0.08 percent to 21,747.57, after touching a high of 21,764.62 earlier. Japanese shares hit a two-month high on Monday.
The major exporters are higher on a slightly weaker yen. Mitsubishi Electric is advancing more than 1 percent and Canon is adding 0.6 percent, while Panasonic and Sony are edging up 0.1 percent each.
Among tech stocks, Tokyo Electron is advancing almost 3 percent and Advantest is unchanged.
In the oil sector, Inpex is declining almost 2 percent and Japan Petroleum is down more than 1 percent even as crude oil prices rose overnight.
Market heavyweight SoftBank is up 0.2 percent, while Fast Retailing is lower by almost 1 percent. In the auto space, Honda Motor is lower by 0.4 percent and Toyota Motor is edging down 0.1 percent.
Among the major gainers, cybersecurity firm Trend Micro is gaining almost 4 percent and Screen Holdings is rising more than 3 percent. Fujitsu and Toppan Printing Co. are higher by almost 3 percent each.
On the flip side, Showa Denko is losing more than 2 percent and Toho Zinc is lower by almost 2 percent.
In economic news, the Bank of Japan said that the monetary base in Japan was up 4.0 percent on year in June, coming in at 512.991 trillion yen. That follows the 3.6 percent increase in May.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 108 yen range on Tuesday.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong is advancing more than 1 percent, while New Zealand, Indonesia and Malaysia are modestly higher. Shanghai, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan are lower.
On Wall Street, stocks gave back some ground, but closed in positive territory on Monday after President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to restart stalled trade negotiations and to hold off on tariffs. Trump also suggested that the U.S. would allow American companies to sell products to Chinese tech giant Huawei that do not pose national security concerns.
While the Nasdaq surged up 84.92 points or 1.1 percent to 8,091.16, the Dow rose 117.47 points or 0.4 percent to 26,717.43 and the S&P 500 climbed 22.57 points or 0.8 percent to 2,964.33.
The major European markets also moved to the upside on Monday. While the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both jumped by 1 percent.
Crude oil futures ended notably higher on Monday, despite giving up a substantial portion of its earlier gains. WTI crude futures rose $0.62 or 1.1 percent to close at $59.09 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2019 AFX News
