Australia, New South Wales, Sydney
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Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed Tuesday, a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping signaled support to the country’s private sector and urged businesses to “show their “talents.”
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 ended the day 0.66% lower at 8,481, after the Reserve Bank of Australia cut rates by 25 basis points to 4.1%, in line with Reuters’ estimates. This marks the RBA’s first rate cut in over four years.
Kerry Craig, global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management said the RBA’s move was “more like an ‘insurance’ cut,” that is “in step with global central banks.
“The RBA has started on a policy easing cycle that was well-telegraphed, and anticipated by the market as the initial market reaction was relatively contained,” he wrote in a Tuesday note.
The Australian dollar had weakened marginally by 0.02% to 0.6354 against the dollar.
The yields on Australian 10-year government bonds have dropped nearly 20 basis points since Jan. 13 to 4.450% on Tuesday, according to LSEG data.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 ended the day 0.25% higher at 39,270.40, while the broader Topix index advanced 0.31% to close at 2,775.51.
South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.63% to close at 2,626.81 while the small-cap Kosdaq rose 0.67% to 773.65.
Mainland China’s CSI 300 Index lost 0.88% in choppy trading to close at 3,912.78.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 1.59% to close at 22,976.86, while the Hang Seng tech ended the day up 2.54% at 5,639, reversing course from the losses in the previous session after Xi’s comments in a rare closed-door symposium.
Indian markets remained in negative territory with the Nifty 50 trading 0.28% lower, while the BSE Sensex index was down 0.21% as at 1 p.m. local time.
Singapore’s first budget with Lawrence Wong as Prime Minister is currently being tabled in the parliament.
