Asian stock markets are mostly lower on Tuesday following the flat lead overnight from Wall Street and as investors turned cautious ahead of monetary policy decisions by the U.S. Federal Reserve as well as the Bank of Japan on Wednesday.
Recent soft economic data has led most analysts to predict that the Fed will leave interest rates unchanged at the end of its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, but the central bank could still surprise the markets.
The Bank of Japan will also wrap up its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday amid speculation it will probably cut the rate on some bank reserves further below zero.
The Australian market is modestly lower. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 4.70 points or 0.09 percent to 5,290.10, after rising to 5,307.60 in early trades. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 6.30 points or 0.12 percent to 5,387.40. The market had closed early on Monday due to a technical snag.
In the mining space, BHP Billiton is advancing 1 percent, Rio Tinto is rising almost 2 percent and Fortescue Metals is higher by more than 1 percent.
New Hope Group reported a loss for the full year that widened from the prior year on impairment charges and costs from the acquisition of a stake in the Bengalla coal mine. Shares of the coal miner are losing almost 1 percent.
Gold miner Newcrest Mining is down 0.5 percent, while Evolution Mining is adding more than 1 percent after gold prices inched higher overnight.
Among oil stocks, Oil Search is edging down 0.08 percent, while Santos and Woodside Petroleum are lower by more than 1 percent each, despite the increase in crude oil prices overnight.
Among the big banks, Westpac is declining 0.8 percent, Commonwealth Bank of Australia is down 0.3 percent and National Australia Bank is lower by 0.2 percent, while ANZ Bank is edging down 0.07 percent.
TPG Telecom reported a 69 percent jump in net profit for the full year on strong revenue growth and one-time gains, but issued guidance below market expectations. The telecom company's shares are losing almost 17 percent.
In economic news, minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia's September 6 meeting revealed that members of the bank's monetary policy meeting said the country's economic growth was in line with its potential.
Domestic cost pressures are expected to remain low in the near term, the minutes said, although the rising Australian dollar could complicate the pace of the recovery.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics said that house prices in Australia were up 2.0 percent on quarter in the second quarter of 2016. That missed forecasts for 3.0 percent following the 0.2 percent decline in the previous three months.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is unchanged against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday, ahead of key central bank decisions on interest rates in the U.S. and Japan later this week. In early trades, the local unit was trading at US$0.7533, compared to US$0.7534 on Monday.
The Japanese market recovered after a weak start and is advancing, as it resumed trading after a public holiday Monday. Nevertheless, investors are cautious ahead of monetary policy decisions by the Bank of Japan and Federal Reserve this week.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is adding 62.44 points or 0.38 percent to 16,581.73, off a high of 16,591.70 earlier.
The major exporters are mostly higher. Toshiba is adding 0.3 percent, Panasonic is advancing more than 1 percent and Sony is adding almost 2 percent, while Canon is down 0.4 percent.
Automaker Toyota is up 2 percent and Honda is adding 0.5 percent. Shares of airbag supplier Takata Corp. fell almost 9 percent after Bloomberg reported that the company is going ahead with an auction of itself.
Fast Retailing is losing more than 3 percent, while SoftBank is rising 0.7 percent.
In the banking space, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is higher by more than 1 percent. In the oil sector, Inpex is down more than 1 percent and JX Holdings is losing 0.2 percent despite the increase in crude oil prices.
Among the other major gainers, DeNA Co. and Alps Electric are higher by more than 4 percent each, while Nippon Telegraph & Telephone is rising more than 3 percent. On the flip side, Suzuki Motor is losing more than 2 percent.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the upper 101 yen-range on Tuesday.
Elsewhere in Asia, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Taiwan are in negative territory. South Korea and New Zealand are modestly higher.
On Wall Street, stocks closed slightly lower on Monday as traders seemed reluctant to make any significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement Wednesday afternoon.
The Dow edged down 3.63 points or less than 0.1 percent to 18,120.17, the Nasdaq slipped 9.54 points or 0.2 percent to 5,235.03 and the S&P 500 closed down just 0.04 points at 2,139.12.
The major European markets moved notably higher on Monday. The German DAX Index jumped by 1 percent, while the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index surged up by 1.4 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.
Crude oil prices rose on Monday, trimming last week's steep losses on signs that OPEC and Iran are moving toward a deal to curb supplies. WTI oil for October settled at $43.30 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 27 cents, or 0.6 percent.
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