Asian stock indexes were broadly positive on Tuesday afternoon, after a slightly turbulent trading day, with markets remaining uncertain over trade concerns and emerging market worries.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended the trading day largely flat at 22,696.9, though the majority of its major sectors were negative. South Korea’s Kospi, however, extended its gains to close 0.38 percent up at 2,315.72.
In the Greater China region, markets were largely positive. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index traded up by 0.75 percent as of 3:08 p.m. HK/SIN. Over on the mainland, the Shanghai composite closed 1.1 percent up at around 2,750.58 while the Shenzhen composite climbed up by 1.164 percent to end the trading day at roughly 1,465.79.
Down Under, Australia’s ASX 200 recovered from some of its earlier losses but still ended the trading day down by 0.28 percent at 6,293.1. The heavily weighted financial sector closed 0.74 percent down.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) announced earlier that the official “cash rate” interest rates would be kept unchanged at 1.5 percent, in a move that was anticipated by most market observers.
“It would be easier to find a golden ticket to Willy (Wonka’s) Chocolate factory than an economist who thinks that we’ll see a change of rate from them today, so once again the focus will be on the rate statement,” Rakuten Securities said in a morning note.
Following the announcement by the RBA, the Australian dollar weakened by about 0.11 percent against the dollar to trade at $0.7203 as of 3:04 p.m. HK/SIN.
