Home World Asia markets mixed as Japan drops 2%; China keeps benchmark lending rate unchanged

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Tuesday trade as China kept its benchmark lending rate unchanged.

Stocks in Japan led losses among the region’s major markets, with the Nikkei 225 falling 2.12% while the Topix index shed 1.64%.

Mainland Chinese stocks, on the other hand, rose by the afternoon. The Shanghai composite advanced 0.29% while the Shenzhen component gained 0.451%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was flat.

The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia also declined 0.56%. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.44%.

Elsewhere, the Nifty 50 in India gained 0.75%. The country’s Covid cases continue to climb, with 273,810 new daily infections registered on Monday.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.27% higher.

On the economic data front, China on Tuesday kept the one-year loan prime rate (LPR) unchanged at 3.85% and five-year LPR at 4.65%. That was in line with predictions from a majority of traders and analysts in a Reuters poll, who had expected no change to either the one-year or five-year LPR.

Overnight on Wall Street, stocks declined from record levels as the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 123.04 points to close at 34,077.63. The S&P 500 dipped 0.53% to finish the trading day stateside at 4,163.26 while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.98% to close at about 13,914.77.

Currencies and oil

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 90.942 following an earlier low of 90.88.

The Japanese yen traded at 108.12 per dollar after strengthening from above 108.6 against the greenback yesterday. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7795, having climbed from below $0.774 yesterday.

Oil prices rose in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures 0.82% higher at $67.60 per barrel. U.S. crude futures gained 0.84% to $63.91 per barrel.

Source: CNBC

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