Asia-Pacific equity markets traded mixed on Tuesday as oil prices pulled back from recent highs after Iran and Israel said they would halt attacks on each other for now, while investors continued to buy the dip in semiconductor stocks following recent weakness.
Technology shares led regional gains, tracking an overnight rebound on Wall Street as investors rotated back into artificial intelligence-linked companies.
By 11:30 am AEST (1:30 am GMT), regional markets were mixed. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.1%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.9%, and South Korea’s KOSPI 200 climbed 2.8%.
Among economic releases, South Korea reported stronger-than-expected economic growth, with GDP expanding at its fastest pace in more than five years in the first quarter, supported by solid exports and domestic demand, according to central bank data.
Real gross domestic product (GDP) rose 1.8% in the January-March period compared with the previous quarter, 0.1 percentage point higher than earlier estimates, according to preliminary figures from the Bank of Korea.
This marked the strongest quarterly growth since the third quarter of 2020, when the economy expanded 2.3%.
On an annual basis, South Korea’s economy grew 3.8% in the first quarter, accelerating sharply from 1.6% in the previous quarter and marking the fastest yearly pace since the fourth quarter of 2021.
In Australia, consumer sentiment weakened further, with the Westpac consumer sentiment index falling 2.9% to 80.6 in June from 83 in May.
Westpac’s Head of Australian Macro-Forecasting, Matthew Hassan, said:
"Australian consumers remain deeply pessimistic. The sentiment shock that hit back in April eased off a touch in May but has intensified again in June. At 80.6, the latest monthly Index read is back amongst the weakest seen in the fifty-year history of the survey, pessimists outnumbering optimists by nearly 20%.
"The survey detail shows cost-of-living issues remain front and centre, the temporary halving in fuel excise tax providing only a small and brief reprieve.
"Meanwhile, other concerns may be starting to emerge with a sharp drop in house price expectations suggesting some consumers are becoming more unsettled about the impact of recently announced tax changes."
In U.S. trading on Monday, major benchmarks finished mixed; the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%, the S&P 500 added 0.3%, and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.9%.
In commodities, ICE Brent crude rose 1.3% to US$94.25 per barrel, while spot gold edged up 0.1% to US$4,329.40 per ounce.
In China, the SSE Composite Index fell 1.7% to 3,959.3, while the CSI 300 dropped 2.1% to 4,713.6.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index declined 1.2% to 24,657.1, and India’s BSE Sensex closed 1% lower at 73,542.3.
European markets ended mixed on Monday, with the UK’s FTSE 100 up 0.1% at 10,373.2, Germany’s DAX down 0.6% at 24,616.2, and France’s CAC 40 slipping 0.2% to 8,199.3.
