Most of the Asian equity benchmarks are trading in red on Tuesday, following the negative cues overnight from Wall Street on waning optimism about a near-term interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve and reflecting a notable drop by shares of Apple and Boeing. Investors remained cautious as they look ahead to the US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony later this week for clues on monetary policy. Powell is due to testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday and before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday. However, the Japanese market is advancing despite the weak cues from Wall Street, as a weaker yen boosted shares of exporters. Nevertheless, investors are cautious ahead of Powell’s congressional testimony this week. Among the other Asian markets, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and Shanghai are in negative territory. However, Indonesia and Malaysia are in positive lead.
Straits Times dips 8.05 points or 0.24% to 3,326.18, Hang Seng shrinks 225.47 points or 0.80% to 28,106.22, Taiwan Weighted diminished 67.34 points or 0.63% to 10,683.88, KOSPI Index decreased by 2.39 points or 0.12% to 2,061.78, and Shanghai was down by 16.58 points 0.57% to 2,916.78.
On the flip side, Nikkei 225 up by 1.94 points or 0.01% to 21,536.29, Jakarta Composite jumps to 14.41 points or 0.23% to 6,366.24 and FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was up by 1.07 points or 0.06% to 1,678.71.
