Asian Shares End Mostly Lower

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets closed mostly lower on Tuesday in cautious trade as worries about rising trade tensions and impact on global economic growth sapped risk appetite. Tech stocks in Asia followed their U.S. counterparts lower as news of an antitrust probe into big tech companies stoked concerns about the sector.

Chinese shares closed lower, extending recent losses amid escalating U.S.-China trade tensions.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite index fell 27.80 points or 0.96 percent to close at 2,862.28, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 122.55 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 26,771.31.

Japanese shares closed flat with a negative bias in choppy trade amid worries about global economic growth and on a stronger safe-haven yen.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index declined 2.34 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 20,408.54, falling for the fifth straight session.

The major exporters closed mixed on a stronger yen. Mitsubishi Electric advanced almost 3 percent and Panasonic added 0.3 percent, while Sony declined more than 1 percent and Canon dipped 0.3 percent.

Index heavyweight Softbank Group lost more than 3 percent extending losses from the previous session, while Fanuc rose more than 2 percent and Fast Retailing added 0.3 percent.

In the auto space, Toyota Motor added 0.4 percent and Honda Motor gained more than 2 percent. Among tech stocks, Tokyo Electron rose more than 3 percent and Advantest added 2 percent.

Australian shares rebounded from the previous session's losses to close modestly higher, buoyed by the Reserve Bank of Australia's decision to cut interest rates for the first time since August 2016.

The RBA reduced its key interest rate by a quarter point to a historic low, as was widely expected. The board of the Reserve Bank of Australia, governed by Philip Lowe, voted to lower the cash rate to 1.25 percent from 1.50 percent.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 11.90 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 6,332.40, after touching a high of 6,343.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index added 5.90 points or 0.09 percent to close at 6,416.70.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Group advanced more than 1 percent each, while Fortescue Metals rose 0.6 percent.

Gold miners extended gains after gold prices rose for the fourth straight session overnight. Evolution Mining added more than 2 percent and Newcrest Mining rose 0.4 percent.

The big four banks advanced after the RBA's decision to cut interest rates. ANZ Banking, Westpac, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank closed higher in a range of 0.4 percent to 0.8 percent.

Oil stocks mostly fell after crude oil prices extended losses to a fourth straight session. Oil Search dipped 1 percent and Woodside Petroleum declined more than 1 percent, while Santos rose more than 1 percent.

Tech stocks followed their U.S. counterparts lower. Altium fell more than 4 percent, Afterpay Touch Group declined almost 4 percent and WiseTech Global edged down 0.2percent.

Coca-Cola Amatil said it will sell its Victoria-based SPC fruit and vegetable processing business to the Shepparton Partners Collective for A$40 million. The company's shares gained more than 2 percent.

Mirvac Group's shares added 0.7 percent after the property group said it has agreed to pay A$33.5 million for 40 rental apartments to be built opposite Melbourne's Queen Victoria Market.

Incitec Pivot has signed agreements to continue manufacturing operations at its Gibson Island facility in Queensland up to 2022. The fertilizer producer's shares rose 1 percent.

Meanwhile, Seoul stocks snapped a three-day winning streak to close lower as weak GDP data and rising trade tensions dented investor sentiment.

The benchmark KOSPI Index edged down 0.88 points or 0.04 percent to close at 2,066.97.

The Bank of Korea said in Tuesday's preliminary reading that South Korea's gross domestic product was down 0.4 percent on quarter in the first three months of 2019. That's down from the 0.3 percent decline suggested in last month's advance estimate and it follows the 0.9 percent increase in the fourth quarter of 2018.

Market heavyweight Samsung Electronics dipped 0.8 percent, home appliance maker LG Electronics fell almost 3 percent, and memory chipmaker SK Hynix lost more than 2 percent.

Elsewhere in Asia, the New Zealand market, which resumed trading after a holiday on Monday, closed notably lower. The benchmark S&P/NZX 50 Index tumbled 166.06 points or 1.64 percent to settle at 9,951.93.

Meanwhile, Singapore is rising 0.4 percent, while Malaysia and Taiwan both declined 0.7 percent each. The Indonesia market is closed all week in observance of Eid-ul-Fitr.

On Wall Street, technology stocks moved sharply lower on Monday following reports of antitrust investigations involving several big-name companies, leading to a steep drop by the tech-heavy Nasdaq. Trade concerns also continued to weigh on the markets after an official document from the Chinese government blamed the U.S. for the escalating trade dispute between the world's two largest economies.

The Nasdaq plunged 120.13 points or 1.6 percent to 7,333.02, ending the session at its lowest closing level in nearly four months. The S&P 500 also fell 7.61 points or 0.3 percent to 2,744.45, while the Dow inched up 4.74 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 24,819.78.