On Tuesday, China kept unchanged its benchmark lending rate for corporate and household loans — the one-year Loan Prime Rate (LPR) held steady at 3.85% while the five-year LPR was also left at 4.65%. Majority of traders and analysts in a snap poll expected no change to both the one-year or five-year LPR, according to Reuters.
Markets in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore are closed on Tuesday for holidays.
Bitcoin’s price also tumbled amid the market turmoil, falling below $30,000 for the first time in nearly a month. The cryptocurrency’s price was at $29,569.45 as of 12:18 a.m. ET Tuesday, according to Coin Metrics.
Wall Street drop
Overnight stateside, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 725.81 points to 33,962.04 while the S&P 500 slipped 1.59% to 4,258.49. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.06% to 14,274.98.
The losses on Wall Street came as concerns grew over the potential impact of a Covid resurgence on the global economic recovery. Several countries in Southeast Asia have been battling a resurgence in infections, and Goldman Sachs recently slashed its 2021 growth forecasts for most of the region.
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.862 after a recent bounce from below 92.8.
The Japanese yen traded at 109.43 per dollar, stronger than levels above 110.5 seen against the greenback last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7321, off levels around $0.738 seen yesterday.
Oil prices were mixed in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures 0.12% higher at $68.70 per barrel. U.S. crude futures advanced 0.15% to $66.52 per barrel.
Source: CNBC