CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Tuesday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, amid a substantial rebound in both crude oil prices and bond yields, renewing concerns about the outlook for global inflation and interest rates. Market sentiment is also hit by continued uncertainty about the resolution of the Middle East conflict. Asian markets closed mixed on Monday.
U.S. President Donald Trump rejected Iran's conditional proposal for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's proposal would have purportedly reopened the strait and resumed nuclear talks in return for the U.S. lifting its blockade of Iranian ports.
Meanwhile, oil flows have resumed through Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline following repairs to a key pipeline that provides an alternative route around the Strait of Hormuz.
The Australian stock market is slightly higher in choppy trading on Tuesday, extending the slight gains in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is moving up to near the 8,700 level, with gains in technology stocks partially offset by weakness in gold miners, energy and financial stocks.
Traders remain cautious ahead of the interest rate decision later in the day, with the Reserve Bank of Australia expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points, to 4.60 percent.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 3.40 points or 0.04 percent to 8,683.10, after touching a high of 8,697.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 5.90 points or 0.07 percent to 8,856.60. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Monday.
Among the major miners, Fortescue is edging up 0.1 percent and BHP Group is gaining almost 1 percent, while Rio Tinto and Mineral Resources are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each.
Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy is declining more than 1 percent and Origin Energy is down almost 1 percent, while Santos and Beach energy are losing almost 2 percent each.
Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is declining more than 3 percent. WiseTech Global and Xero are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Appen is advancing almost 4 percent and Zip is adding almost 3 percent.
Gold miners are mostly lower. Evolution Mining is down almost 1 percent, Newmont is losing more than 1 percent and Northern Star Resources is declining more than 2 percent, while Genesis Minerals and Resolute Mining are edging down 0.4 percent each.
Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is losing almost 1 percent, while National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each.
In other news, shares in Megaport Ltd. are jumping more than 14 percent after the tech company announced almost $1 billion in three AI infrastructure contracts through its Latitude.sh business.
Shares in Codan Ltd. are also soaring more than 16 percent after the drone components maker announced upbeat profit outlook for the December half on strong demand from drone manufacturers amid global warfare.
In economic news, Australian household spending was flat month-on-month in August 2026, following a 1.1 percent increase in the prior month and ending three consecutive months of growth. On an annual basis, household spending rose 6.8 percent, easing from 7.0 percent in July, which was the fastest growth since June 2023.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.702 on Tuesday.
The Japanese stock market is trading significantly lower on Tuesday, extending the losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with the Nikkei 225 falling to near the 65,300 level, with weakness in index heavyweights and financial stocks partially offset by some gains in technology stocks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 65,307.00, down 570.62 points or 0.87 percent, after hitting a low of 65,058.86 earlier. Japanese shares ended notably lower on Monday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 3 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging down 0.4 percent. Among automakers, Honda is flat and Toyota is down more than 1 percent.
In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 1 percent, while Tokyo Electron and Screen Holdings are advancing more than 2 percent each.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is down more than 2 percent, Mizuho Financial are declining almost 3 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing almost 2 percent.
The major exporters are mixed. Mitsubishi Electric is down more than 1 percent and Panasonic is losing almost 1 percent, while Sony is gaining almost 2 percent and Canon is adding almost 1 percent.
Among the other major losers, Resonac Holdings is declining almost 5 percent and Idemitsu Kosan is slipping almost 4 percent, while Toppan Holdings, Inpex, SHIFT and Tokyo Electric Power are losing more than 3 percent each. Kioxia Holdings, Chubu Electric Power, Ibiden, Dentsu Group, Shiseido, Kubota and Furukawa Electric are all down almost 3 percent each.
Conversely, Tokai Carbon is gaining more than 3 percent, while Lasertec and Disco are adding almost 3 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 157 yen-range on Tuesday.
Elsewhere in Asia, Indonesia is down 1.4 percent, while New Zealand, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are lower by between 0.1 and 0.8 percent each.
On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated but remained mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Monday after coming under pressure early in the session. The major averages all moved to the downside on the day following the strength seen during last Friday's session.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq slumped 248.34 points or 0.9 percent to 26,820.38, the S&P 500 slid 59.72 points or 0.8 percent to 7,683.69 and the Dow fell 347.11 points or 0.7 percent to 51,481.51.
Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day little changed. While the French CAC 40 Index closed just above the unchanged line, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both edged down by 0.1 percent.
Crude oil prices were up on Monday, although well off early highs after U.S. President Donald Trump rejected Iran's conditional proposal for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was up $0.41 or 0.42 percent to $92.80 per barrel.
Copyright(c) 2026 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2026 AFX News
