Asian Market Review

Asian markets have opened mixed Tuesday morning, following on the heels of a flat overnight session on Wall Street, where investors seemed to be awaiting the latest decisions from major central banks later this week and next week.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 is the loser of the day, trading down 0.3% after NAB Business Confidence came in weaker than expected, hinting at growing troubles in the Australian business sector. The big four banks are al trading higher, with NAB and Westpac doing particularly well as they rise 1.1% and 0.9% respectively.

In Japan the Nikkei is headed into the lunch break with a gain of 0.5% as the Yen continues softening versus the U.S. dollar, giving a boost to Japanese exporters. Shares of Toyota are 1.2% higher and Toshiba is up by 0.8%, but shares of Sony are trading 1% lower today.

Mainland Chinese markets have opened lower following better than expected CPI data, but worse than expected PPI data. CPI was 2.8% versus expectations of a 2.6% reading, while PPI came in at -0.8% versus -0.3% last month. Both the Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Composite are down 0.2% at the open in response. In Hong Kong the Hang Seng has opened 0.4% higher, as investors continue to hope for the end to protests in the city.

South Korea’s Kospi trades 0.4% higher, and in Taiwan the Taiex has a loss of 0.4% in sympathy with the drop in mainland Chinese markets.

Southeast Asian markets are mixed as well, with Singapore’s Straits Times 0.5% higher, but Malaysia’s KLCI 0.6% lower.