Asia-Pacific markets mixed as Europe, US decline

Asia-Pacific equities markets were mixed Tuesday. Among those indices seeing gains were the Taiex, which added 0.11 percent to 8,727.55 in Taiwan. India’s Sensex gained 0.52 percent to 14, 919.19, while the Shanghai Composite was up 0.87 percent to 5,194.69. In South Korea, the Kospi index was 1.46 percent higher to 1,829.31. Decliners included the Australian markets, where the Sydney Ordinaries fell 0.12 percent to 6,177.3 and the S&P/ASX200 dropped 0.14 percent to 6,176.3. Elsewhere, the Hang Seng index was 0.91 percent lower to 23,363.76 in Hong Kong and Singapore’s Straits Times index closed at 3,343. The Nikkei 225 ended the session in Tokyo at 0.09 percent lower to 16,287.49 and the Topix index fell 0.2 percent to 1,584.6, while the Mothers market managed a gain of 0.04 percent to 731.34.

European markets declined substantially after over a week of steady gains. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 dropped 1.81 percent to 1,488.92. In Frankfurt, the Dax fell 0.74 percent to 7,430.24. Madrid’s IBEX was 1.26 percent lower to 14,124.8, while the CAC-40 was down 2.08 percent to 5,474.17. London’s markets were also lower on the session. The FTSE 100 fell 1.9 percent to 6,102.2 while the FTSE 250 dropped 1.6 percent to 10,793.8.

Wall Street was lower at midday as investors waited for the release of the minutes from the most recent meeting of the US Federal Reserve. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.09 percent to 13,176.87, while the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 1.27 percent to 2,528.67 and the S&P 500 had dropped 1.17 percent to 1,449. 69.

Crude oil prices were lower, while metals were mixed. Most agricultural commodities were lower but hogs saw gains.

The yen was up against major currencies.

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