Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed on Tuesday as investors assessed rising Middle East tensions following the United States rollout of fresh global sanctions targeting Iran.
By 11:40 am AEST (1:40 am GMT), Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.7%, while Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 0.5% and South Korea's KOSPI 200 declined 2%.
South Korean consumer sentiment weakened for the first time in four months. According to the Bank of Korea's Consumer Trend Survey released on Tuesday, the Composite Consumer Sentiment Index (CCSI) fell 2.3 points from the previous month to 104.5 in August.
Meanwhile, minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia's latest meeting showed policymakers were divided over whether to raise interest rates, with several members judging that a hike could be necessary amid upside risks to inflation.
In the U.S. on Monday, major benchmarks finished mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.3%, the S&P 500 falling 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite declining 0.8%.
In commodities, ICE Brent crude settled 4.1% lower at US$90.54 a barrel on Monday, while spot gold gained 0.9% to US$4,651.57 an ounce.
In China, the SSE Composite Index fell 0.6% to 3,882.0, while the CSI 300 declined 1.2% to 4,563.1.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost 1.9% to 25,517.3, while India's BSE Sensex eased 0.2% to 77,369.1.
European markets also finished mixed on Monday. The UK's FTSE 100 rose 0.4% to 10,854.3, while Germany's DAX fell 0.1% to 26,106.6 and France's CAC 40 declined 0.4% to 8,453.0.
