Asia-Pacific markets traded mostly lower on Tuesday as renewed concerns over an escalation in the Middle East conflict weighed on investor sentiment.
By 11:50 am AEST (1:50 am GMT), Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.5%, Japan's Nikkei 225 had eased 0.04%, while South Korea's KOSPI 200 was flat.
Among data releases, South Korea's exports surged 68.7% year-on-year in August, driven by strong shipments of semiconductors, according to data released by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources.
Outbound shipments reached US$98.25 billion during the month, while imports rose 22.6% from a year earlier to $63.51 billion, resulting in a trade surplus of $34.75 billion.
In Australia, the total number of dwellings approved fell 3.6% in July to 17,687 on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Daniel Rossi, ABS head of construction statistics, said, "Approvals for private sector houses fell 4.2 per cent in July, following a 0.8 per cent rise in June.
"Private other dwelling approvals fell 0.4 per cent, but remain at elevated levels with over 7,000 dwellings approved in this series for the second month in a row."
In a separate release, Australia's current account deficit widened to $27.2 billion in the June quarter of 2026 in seasonally adjusted, current-price terms.
Jonathon Khoo, ABS head of international statistics, said: “Trade in goods and services continued to drive the current account deficit, recording the second trade deficit in a row, led by record values of fuels and passenger vehicle imports.”
Imports of goods and services increased 4.0%, driven by a 6.9% rise in goods imports. Exports of goods and services climbed 2.8%, supported by a 3.9% increase in goods exports.
On Wall Street on Monday, major U.S. benchmarks finished lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 0.7%, the S&P 500 declining 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite easing 0.1%.
In commodities, ICE Brent crude settled 2.7% higher at US$90.49 a barrel, while spot gold fell 0.2% to US$4,446.83 an ounce.
In China, the SSE Composite Index gained 0.9% to 3,986.3, while the CSI 300 advanced 0.4% to 4,625.1. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index slipped 0.1% to 25,567.0, while India's BSE Sensex declined 0.4% to 76,857.3.
European markets also finished lower. The UK's FTSE 100 remained closed for a public holiday, while Germany's DAX fell 1.2% to 26,258.1 and France's CAC 40 declined 0.8% to 8,334.5.
