SINGAPORE – Asia Pacific stocks were mixed on Tuesday as investors watched shares of Japanese financial services firm Nomura move after their slump on Monday.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan was slightly higher, while the Topix index lost 0.91%.
Japan’s retail sales fell 1.5% yoy in February. That is according to a preliminary report released Tuesday by the country’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. That compares to a median market forecast for a 2.8% decline, according to Reuters.
Nomura shares continued to decline Tuesday as they fell more than 1.5%. The company’s shares fell more than 16% on Monday after the company warned of a “significant loss” at one of its US subsidiaries as a result of transactions with a customer in the US.
Meanwhile, mainland China stocks were higher in the afternoon: the Shanghai Composite gained 0.59% while the Shenzhen component rose 1.045%.
South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.13%. Australian stocks were down as the S & P / ASX 200 fell 0.61%.
The broadest MSCI index for stocks in the Asia-Pacific region outside of Japan rose 0.51%.
Overnight in the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 98 points higher to a new record of 33,171. The S&P 500 fell slightly on the day to 3,971.09 while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.6% to 13,059.65.
Currencies and oil
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback versus a basket of its peers, came in at 92.912 as it largely stuck in gains after rising below 92 last week.
The Japanese yen was trading at 109.93 per dollar, still relatively weaker than below 109 against last week’s greenback. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7654, below the $ 0.762 level seen last week of trading.
Oil prices were higher in the afternoon of Asia’s trading hours. The international benchmark’s Brent crude oil futures rose 0.18% to $ 65.10 a barrel. US crude oil futures rose 0.19% to $ 61.68 a barrel.
