SINGAPORE — Shares in major Asia-Pacific markets slipped on Tuesday, with Chinese search giant Baidu making its debut in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index led losses among the region’s major markets as it fell about 1.4%, as of its final hour of trading.
Mainland Chinese stocks fell on the day as the Shanghai composite shed 0.93% to 3,411.51 while the Shenzhen component declined 1.117% to 13,607.27.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 closed 0.61% lower at 28,995.92 while the Topix index declined 0.94% to finish its trading day at 1,971.48. South Korea’s Kospi slipped 1.01% to close at 3,004.74.
Shares in Australia dipped, with the S&P/ASX 200 closing 0.11% lower at 6,745.40.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.66% lower.
In corporate developments, Baidu’s stock began trading in Hong Kong on Tuesday, with shares little changed from their issue price, as of their final hour of trading. The firm joins a long list of U.S.-listed Chinese tech companies that have done secondary offerings in Hong Kong, including Alibaba and JD.com.
In Singapore, shares of Capitaland soared more than 13% in Tuesday afternoon trade following the firm’s Monday announcement of a restructuring plan.
Tech stock watch
Meanwhile, technology stocks in Asia-Pacific declined on Tuesday. Shares of Japanese conglomerate Softbank Group declined 0.9% while South Korea’s LG Electronics plunged 6.13%.
Over in Hong Kong, shares of Tencent nudged 0.63% lower in afternoon trade while Meituan dropped 5.49%.
The moves in regional tech stocks came after their counterparts stateside rallied overnight amid declining bond yields, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite jumping 1.23% to close at 13,377.54.
Other major indexes on Wall Street also rose on the day: The S&P 500 advanced 0.7% to 3,940.59 while the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 103.23 points to 32,731.20.
The moves stateside came as the 10-year Treasury yield declined 5 basis points to around 1.68% (1 basis point equals 0.01%), following a 14-month high touched last week. It last stood at 1.6717%.
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 91.858 — still above levels below 91.5 seen last week.
The Japanese yen traded at 108.72 per dollar, following an earlier high of 108.66 against the greenback. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7691, still off levels above $0.78 seen last week.
Oil prices declined in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures down 1.16% to $63.87 per barrel. U.S. crude futures shed 1.22% to $60.81 per barrel.
— CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal contributed to this report.
Correction: This article was updated to accurately reflect the level of the U.S. dollar index.
Source: CNBC