SINGAPORE — Shares in major Asia-Pacific markets slipped on Tuesday, with Chinese search giant Baidu seeing a muted debut in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index led losses among the region’s major markets as it fell 1.34% to close at 28,497.38.
Mainland Chinese stocks fell on the day as the Shanghai composite shed 0.93% to 3,411.51 while the Shenzhen component declined 1.117% to 13,607.27.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 closed 0.61% lower at 28,995.92 while the Topix index declined 0.94% to finish its trading day at 1,971.48. South Korea’s Kospi slipped 1.01% to close at 3,004.74.
Shares in Australia dipped, with the S&P/ASX 200 closing 0.11% lower at 6,745.40.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.62%.
In corporate developments, Baidu’s stock saw a lackluster Tuesday debut in Hong Kong, with shares closing unchanged from their issue price. The firm joins a long list of U.S.-listed Chinese tech companies that have done secondary offerings in Hong Kong, including Alibaba and JD.com.
In Singapore, shares of Capitaland soared more than 13% in Tuesday afternoon trade following the firm’s Monday announcement of a restructuring plan.
Tech stock watch
Meanwhile, technology stocks in Asia-Pacific declined on Tuesday. Shares of Japanese conglomerate Softbank Group declined 0.9% while South Korea’s LG Electronics plunged 6.13%.
Over in Hong Kong, shares of Tencent nudged 0.79% lower while Meituan dropped 5.24%.
The moves in regional tech stocks came after their counterparts stateside rallied overnight amid declining bond yields, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumping 1.23% to close at 13,377.54.
Other major indexes on Wall Street also rose on the day: The S&P 500 advanced 0.7% to 3,940.59 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 103.23 points to 32,731.20.
The moves stateside came as the 10-year Treasury yield declined 5 basis points to around 1.68% (1 basis point equals 0.01%), following a 14-month high touched last week. It last stood at 1.647%.
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.013 — above levels below 91.5 seen last week.
The Japanese yen traded at 108.74 per dollar, following an earlier high of 108.66 against the greenback. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7692, still off levels above $0.78 seen last week.
Oil prices declined in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down 1.32% to $63.77 per barrel. U.S. crude futures also shed 1.32% to $60.75 per barrel.
— CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.
Correction: This article was updated to accurately reflect the level of the U.S. dollar index.
Source: CNBC