CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are trading mixed on Tuesday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders react to further progress made towards ending the US government shutdown, with the US Senate commencing a series of votes on a package to reopen the government and end the longest shutdown on record. Asian markets closed mostly higher on Monday.
The news seems to have led some traders to pick up stocks at somewhat reduced levels following recent valuation worries.
The Senate voted 60-40 in favor of a temporary funding bill, which would also reverse some of the recent mass federal layoffs. Several Democratic Senators broke with party leaders in favor of moving forward with the legislation, as it does call for a vote on the extension of enhanced Obamacare tax credits.
The reopening would lead to the resumption of the release of key U.S. economic data on jobs and inflation, heading into next month's US Fed interest-rate decision. Traders are increasingly confident emerging signs of a weakening U.S. economy will pressure the US Fed to execute rate cuts.
The Australian stock market is trading slightly lower on Tuesday, reversing some of the gains in the previous session, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying well below the 8,850 level, with weakness in financial and technology stocks partially offset by gains in mining and energy stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 11.20 points or 0.13 percent to 8,824.70, after touching a high of 8,875.60 and a low of 8,824.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 5.30 points or 0.06 percent to 9,104.10. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Monday.
Among the major miners, BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Fortescue are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each, while Mineral Resources is advancing more than 4 percent.
Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is adding almost 2 percent and Origin Energy is up more than 1 percent, while Woodside Energy and Beach energy are gaining almost 1 percent each.
Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is edging up 0.4 percent. Appen and Xero are losing more than 1 percent each, while WiseTech Global is edging down 0.5 percent. Zip is flat.
Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star resources, Resolute Mining and Newmont are advancing almost 4 percent each, while Genesis Minerals is surging more than 4 percent and Evolution Mining is gaining more than 2 percent.
Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is declining more than 6 percent and National Australia Bank is losing almost 1 percent, while ANZ Banking is gaining almost 1 percent and Westpac is adding more than 1 percent.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.653 on Tuesday.
The Japanese stock market is trading modestly higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving well above the 51,100 level, with gains in index heavyweights, financial and technology and stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 51,131.28, up 219.52 points or 0.43 percent, after touching a high of 51,513.16 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Monday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is surging more than 5 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is adding almost 2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.2 percent, while Toyota is gaining more than 1 percent.
In the tech space, Tokyo Electron is gaining almost 1 percent, while Screen Holdings and Advantest are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial are all gaining almost 1 percent each.
The major exporters are mostly higher. Panasonic is losing almost 1 percent and Canon is edging down 0.3 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric is adding more than 2 percent and Sony is gaining more than 1 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Furukawa Electric is jumping almost 8 percent and DeNA is soaring more than 7 percent, while Japan Steel Works, ANA Holdings and Fujitsu are surging more than 5 percent. Fujikura is gaining more than 4 percent, while Renesas Electronics, NEC, Chugai Pharmaceutical and NGK Insulators are advancing almost 4 percent each. Sharp, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Recruit Holdings and Ajinomoto are adding more than 3 percent each.
Conversely, Mitsubishi Estate is losing almost 4 percent.
In economic news, overall bank lending in Japan was up 4.1 percent on year in October, the Bank of Japan said on Tuesday - coming in at 650.798 trillion yen. That beat forecasts for 3.8 percent, which would have been unchanged from the previous month. Excluding trusts, bank lending jumped an annual 4.5 percent to 571.866 trillion yen - up from 4.2 percent in September.
Meanwhile, Japan posted a seasonally adjusted current account surplus of 4.483 trillion yen in September, the Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday - up 191.6 percent on year. That exceeded expectations for a surplus of 2.26 trillion yen following the upwardly revised 3.701 trillion yen surplus in August (originally 246.35 trillion yen).
Exports were up 8.6 percent on year at 9.449 trillion yen, while imports rose 1.7 percent to 9.213 trillion yen for a trade surplus of 236 billion yen. The capital account saw a shortfall of 20.9 billion yen, while the financial account had a surplus of 6.778 trillion yen.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 154-yen range on Tuesday.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea and Singapore are up 1.8 and 1.3 percent, respectively. Malaysia and Taiwan are up 0.8 and 0.6 percent, respectively. New Zealand, China and Indonesia are lower by between 0.2 and 0.3 percent each. Hong Kong is flat.
On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher during trading on Monday, regaining ground following the considerable weakness seen in the previous week. The major averages all moved to the upside on the day, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the charge.
The major averages ended the day just off their highs of the session. The Nasdaq surged 522.64 points or 2.3 percent to 23,527.17, the S&P 500 jumped 103.63 points or 1.5 percent to 6,832.43 and the Dow advanced 381.53 points or 0.8 percent to 47,368.63.
The major European markets all also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index shot up 1.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 1,1 percent.
Crude oil prices moved higher on Monday on the prospects of the U.S. government shutdown coming to a close. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $0.31 or 0.52 percent at $60.06 per barrel.
Copyright(c) 2025 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2025 AFX News