SINGAPORE — Stocks in major Asia-Pacific markets dipped in Tuesday morning trade as investors await the October fixing of China’s benchmark lending rate.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.15% while the Topix index also shed 0.21%. South Korea’s Kospi was about 0.2% lower, as shares of chipmaker SK Hynix fell around 3% after the firm said Tuesday it will buy part of Intel’s business for about $9 billion, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, shares in Australia fell, with the S&P/ASX 200 down 0.39%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.13% lower.
China’s latest one-year and five-year loan prime rates (LPRs) are set to be out at around 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN on Tuesday. A majority of traders and analysts in a snap Reuters poll expect no change in either the one-year LPR or the five-year rate.
At present, the one-year LPR sits at 3.85% while the five-year rate is at 4.65%.
Overnight stateside, stocks on Wall Street dropped. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 410.89 points lower, or 1.4%, at 28,195.42. The S&P 500 ended its trading day 1.6% lower at 3,426.92 while the Nasdaq Composite pulled back 1.7% to close at 11,478.88.
Investors are watching coronavirus stimulus negotiations, with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin set to speak again on Tuesday — time is running out for a deal to be reached before the 2020 election.
Currencies
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 93.409 after an earlier decline from levels above 93.6.
The Japanese yen traded at 105.55 per dollar after swinging above the 105.4 level against the greenback yesterday. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7055 after slipping from levels above $0.71 yesterday.
What’s on tap:
- China: One-year and five-year loan prime rate at 9:30 a.m. HK/SIN
Source: CNBC