Shares in Asia-Pacific fell on Tuesday despite gains overnight on Wall Street as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite closed at record highs.
Mainland Chinese stocks closed lower. The Shanghai composite edged 0.92% lower to 3,573.18, while the Shenzhen component dropped 0.993% to 14,999.80.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index declined 0.94% to finish the trading day at 28,994.10.
The Nikkei 225 fell 0.81% to close at 28,812.61 while the Topix index shed 0.82% to end the trading day at 1,949.48. South Korea’s Kospi also declined 0.46% on the day to 3,286.68.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 closed fractionally lower at 7,301.20.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.55% lower.
The S&P 500 gained 0.23% overnight stateside to a fresh record closing high of 4,290.61.
Investors will also monitor technology shares in Asia-Pacific after the Nasdaq Composite on Wall Street rose 0.98% to a record closing high of 14,500.51.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lagged, falling 150.57 points to 34,283.27.
Asian Markets Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 91.997 — off levels above 92.1 seen earlier in the month.
The Japanese yen traded at 110.61 per dollar, stronger than levels above 110.8 seen yesterday against the greenback. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.754, down from levels around 0.758 seen earlier this week.
Oil prices were little changed in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures slipping slightly to $74.22 per barrel. U.S. crude futures traded lower at $72.3 per barrel.
![Descriptive image of U.S-China Trade war on Asian Stocks[Photo:File]](https://sp-ao.shortpixel.ai/client/to_auto,q_glossy,ret_img,w_350,h_197/https://tradingroom.co.ke/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Trd.jpg)
