BEIJING (AP) – Asian stocks were mixed Tuesday following Wall Street’s declines while oil prices eased after two days of strong gains.
KEEPING SCORE: The Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.7 percent to 3,132.30 points and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.4 percent to 22,351.43. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 added 0.2 percent to 19,200.39 and Seoul’s Kospi gained 0.1 percent to 2,029.23. India’s Sensex advanced 0.2 percent to 26,565.42 and benchmarks in New Zealand and Southeast Asia also rose. Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 shed 0.2 percent to 5,550.90 while Taiwan also retreated.
WALL STREET: Stocks pulled back following a record run, though a spurt in oil prices Monday helped push energy issues higher. Nine stocks fell on the New York Stock Exchange for every five that rose. The Standard & Poor’s 500 has climbed 5.4 percent since the presidential election on expectations proposed tax cuts will lead to higher profits. The rise in energy stocks including Exxon Mobil and Chevron boosted the Dow Jones industrial average 0.2 percent to a record 19,796.43. The S&P, a broader measure, 0.1 percent, to 2,256.96. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.6 percent to 5,412.54.
FED WATCH: Investors expect the U.S. Federal Reserve to hike interest rates when it ends a policy meeting Wednesday. It would be only the second rise in a decade. The Fed has kept rates near zero since the 2008 global crisis but its leaders have indicated the U.S. economy is improving enough to start moving gradually toward normal policy. Low interest rates have helped to boost stock prices but are hurting savers who look for income from bank accounts and bonds.
ANALYST’S TAKE: “For Asia, things have perhaps been a little less optimistic,” said Jingyi Pan of IG in a report. Pan cited uncertainty over China’s monthly data and U.S.-Chinese tensions over Taiwan and Beijing’s filing of a World Trade Organization complaint against the United States and Europe Union for failing to treat it as a market economy. “As each other’s largest trading partner, the impact of a deteriorating relationship will be significant on both ends, commanding due concerns from the markets,” Pan said.