SINGAPORE — Asia-Pacific stocks were mixed in Tuesday morning trading as investors eye the Reserve Bank of Australia’s latest interest rate decision.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.1%, while the Topix index lost 0.35%.
The South Korean Kospi was a little lower. Elsewhere, Australian stocks rose as the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.76%.
In Southeast Asia, Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.34%. Markets in Hong Kong and mainland China are closed for a public holiday on Tuesday.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific equities outside of Japan traded 0.15% higher.
Oil prices were higher in the morning of Tuesday’s Asian hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 1.54% to $109.19 a barrel. US crude oil futures rose 1.55% to $104.88 a barrel.
Oil prices soared on Monday as investors braced for the prospect of more Western sanctions against Russia following allegations of massacres of civilians near Ukrainian cities.
The new European Union sanctions against Russia are likely to include steel, luxury goods, jet fuel and more, sources told CNBC. However, the bloc remains divided on whether to extend these sanctions to energy imports.
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Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of Australia is due to announce its latest interest rate decision at 12:30pm HK/SIN on Tuesday.
Ahead of this decision, the Australian dollar was changing hands at $0.7539 after rising from below $0.75 yesterday.
Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.81% to 4,582.64. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 103.61 points, or 0.3%, to 34,921.88. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite outperformed, rising 1.9% to 14,532.55.
currencies
The US Dollar Index, which tracks the dollar against a basket of its peers, came in at 98.967 after rising from below 98.6 recently.
The Japanese yen traded at 122.55 per dollar, weaker from levels below 122 recorded against the greenback last week.