By Gina Lee
Investing.com – Asia Pacific stocks were mostly down on Tuesday morning, with investors assessing the uncertain global economic outlook and monetary policies.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.51% by 10:37 PM ET (2:37 AM GMT), while South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.81%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 inched up 0.05%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 1.12%.
China’s Shanghai Composite inched down 0.19% while the SZSE Component was down 0.47%. To offset the heavy impact of COVID-19-related lockdowns on businesses, China will offer more than 140 billion yuan ($21 billion) in additional tax relief, the State of Council decided in a Monday meeting.
Nasdaq 100 dipped 1.34%, and S&P 500 Futures fell about 0.80%. Snapchat owner Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP).’s shares tumble 28% after it warned of a worsening macroeconomic trend and said the company is not likely to meet the second quarter’s revenue and profit forecasts.
Markets have taken some comfort from U.S. President Joe Biden’s comments that he was considering easing sanctions on China, as well as Beijing’s ongoing promises of stimulus.
Investors are also assessing the outlook for monetary policy. They now await the minutes from the last U.S. Federal Reserve meeting, due on Wednesday, which could give clues on whether the tightening would continue.
“That is a big risk that the Fed doesn’t get the big economy signals and keep marching along with a very aggressive tightening program,” Allspring Global Investments senior portfolio manager Margaret Patel told Bloomberg.
“But if they look at the real world out there, they will see it’s time to take a big pause and at that point we will evaluate the market and perhaps try to see to a way through without a recession,” Patel added.
In Asia Pacific, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand will hand down its policy decision on Wednesday, with the Bank of Korea following a day later.
On the data front, U.S. new home sales, as well as the manufacturing and services PMIs, are due later today, with U.S. GDP, initial jobless claims are due on Thursday.