Stocks in Asia were mixed in Tuesday morning trade. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 touched a record high overnight on Wall Street on the back of a recent pause in tariff escalation between the U.S. and China.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan added 0.12% in early trade, while the Topix rose 0.13%.
In South Korea, however, the Kospi slipped 0.4%
Over in Australia the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.27% as most sectors advanced.
The Reserve Bank of Australia is set to announce its monetary policy decision later on Tuesday, with market expectations that interest rates will be cut. Ahead of that, the Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6965 after slipping from levels above $0.700 yesterday.
Asia-Pacific Market Indexes Chart
Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 added 0.8% to 2,964.33, a record closing high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 117.47 points to end the day at 26,717.43, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.1% to close at 8,091.16.
The moves came as investors cheered recent developments over the weekend on the U.S.-China trade front, with the two countries’ presidents agreeing not to slap new duties on each others goods after meeting at the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan. U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that trade talks between the two countries have “already begun. “
Trump also suggested he will be reversing his administration’s decision to ban American companies from selling products to Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, which Washington has previously described as a security risk to America and its allies.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 96.809 after rising from levels below 96.6 in the previous session. The Japanese yen traded at 108.41 against the dollar following lows above 108.4 seen yesterday.
Oil prices declined in the morning of Asian trading hours after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed on Monday to extend production cuts by nine months. International benchmark Brent crude futures slipped 0.43% to $64.78 per barrel, while U.S. crude futures fell 0.74% to $58.65 per barrel.
— CNBC’s Fred Imbert contributed to this report.
