Hong Kong, US-China trade war, currencies in focus
Stocks in Asia traded lower Tuesday morning as Hong Kong tried to return to normalcy after protests in recent days.
Hong Kong airport reopened on Tuesday after operations were rippled on Monday due to protests, which have turned increasingly violent since June.
Nikkei 225 in Japan fell 1.48% in early trade after returning from a vacation, while the Topix index plunged 1.41%.
South Korea's Kospi slipped 0.63%, while the S & P / ASX 200 in Australia fell 0.31%.
Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index fell 0.26%.
The center of the Chinese yuan will be monitored when it comes out around 9:1[ads1]5 HP / SIN. People's Bank of China put the midpoint above the psychologically significant level of 7 yuan per dollar for the third consecutive session on Monday. The Chinese currency has been closely monitored by investors in recent days after it weakened past the 7 level against the greenback last week, prompting the US Treasury to designate China as a currency manipulator.
Asia-Pacific Market Indexes Chart
Overnight next, Dow dropped 391 points to close at 25,896.44, while the S&P 500 fell 1.24% to end its trading day at 2,882.44. Nasdaq Composite fell 1.2% to close at 7,863.41.
It came when bond yields fell among concerns about the state of the world economy. The benchmark 10-year government benchmark index, which fell to its lowest since 2016 last week, dipped to 1.63% on Monday. The spread between 2-year and 10-year government yields was reduced to just 6 basis points on Monday, near the lowest level since 2007. That was the last of 1.6522%.
Currencies and Oil
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 97,380 after falling from heights above 97.5 yesterday.
The Japanese yen traded at 105.37 against the dollar after seeing a low of 105.5 in the previous session, while the Australian dollar changed its hand at $ 0.6754 after a fall from levels above $ 0.667 yesterday.
On Tuesday, foreign exchange markets will be monitored by investors for signs of contagion following the Argentine peso's sharp fall against the dollar on Monday after the country's leader lost the first round of elections by a much larger margin than expected. The Argentine peso plunged nearly 25% of its value to around $ 59 per dollar shortly after trading opened.
Oil prices fell in the morning in Asian trading hours, with the international benchmark index for Brent crude oil futures falling 0.12% to $ 58.50 per barrel and US crude oil futures dropping 0.13% to $ 54.86 per barrel.
What is in print today:
- Australia Revenue: Challenger
- Hong Kong Revenue: WH Group, Sunny Optical
– CNBC's Yun Li and Reuters contributed to this report.
