SINGAPORE — Stocks in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Tuesday morning trade after shares on Wall Street pulled back overnight from all-time highs.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.12% while the Topix index sat below the flatline. South Korea’s Kospi declined 0.3%.
Mainland Chinese stocks were higher in early trading: The Shanghai composite gained 0.26% while the Shenzhen component rose slightly. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index advanced 0.12%.
Shares in Australia rose, with the S&P/ASX 200 up about 0.1%.
On the coronavirus front, Malaysia’s king on Tuesday declared a state of emergency in the country. That came after Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced Monday that the country would tighten Covid-19 restrictions from Wednesday, with multiple states coming under a lockdown.
The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI index slipped 0.29% in Tuesday morning trade.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.14% lower.
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 90.6-7 after its rise from levels below 89.6 last week.
The Japanese yen traded at 104.27 per dollar, still weaker than levels below 103 against the greenback seen last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7693, after seeing levels above $0.774 in the previous trading week.
Bitcoin fell along with other digital coins on Monday, wiping out about more than $100 billion from the entire cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, was at about $34,123.39 as of around 8:48 p.m. EST Monday according to Coin Metrics.
Oil prices were lower in the morning of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down 0.16% to $55.57 per barrel. U.S. crude futures dipped 0.11% to $52.19 per barrel.
Source: CNBC