Asian markets eased despite Wall Street gains

Major stock indexes in Asia traded below the flat line on Tuesday, failing to follow gains seen in Wall Street, with investors awaiting a series of economic reports later in the day.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 remained almost all session near the flat line to end the day at 22,817.00, adding 0.21 percent. The broader Topix gained 0.04 percent, with banking stocks pushing higher.

In Seoul, the Kospi index eased 0.71 percent as technology components failed to offer support. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix were both down by 1.6 percent.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 1.08 percent by the time of this writing, heading to a break of its six-day rally. Tech stocks were softer, with Tencent falling two and a half percent.

China’s mainland were steady despite as players digested economic data: The Shanghai composite rose 0.58 percent and the Shenzhen composite was up 0.67 percent.

Fixed asset investment in China increased 7.0 percent year-over-year in April, below an estimated 7.4 percent growth rate. Industrial production added 7.0 percent, surpassing a 6.4 percent seen by market analysts.

Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 settled 0.61 percent into red territory, with most subindexes moving lower, except for technology names, which failed to support the benchmark.

In other news, the US-China trade relation returned to headlines as US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Monday he expected a better relation between President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart would pave the way to a mutually beneficial agreement on trade issues.

Economic calendar:

Ahead in the session, investors will be looking at relevant report from Europe and the United States. In the UK, average earnings, the claimant count change and the unemployment rate are all expected to be released as of 08:30 GMT.

Half an hour later, focus will be turn back to Germany, with ZEW economic sentiment for May eyed. Eurozone’s Q1 GDP and industrial production figures for March will be out at 09:00 GMT.

Later on, US retail sales for April and the NY Empire State manufacturing index for May are up at 12:30 GMT, followed by business inventories for March at 14:00 GMT. TIC net long-term transactions for March will be available at 20:00 GMT.

FortFS