Asia-Pacific markets traded broadly lower early Tuesday, diverging from Wall Street after the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached another record high overnight.
By 11:45 am AEST (1:45 am GMT), Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.04%, Japan's Nikkei 225 had fallen 0.9%, while South Korea's KOSPI 200 tumbled 4.4%.
Samsung Electronics shares dropped 6.9% despite reporting preliminary second-quarter operating profit of 89.4 trillion won (US$58.4 billion), up from 57.2 trillion won in the previous quarter.
In Japan, household spending data delivered mixed signals. Consumer spending by households with two or more people fell 0.4% year-on-year in May.
However, on a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, household expenditure rose 3.7%, accelerating from a revised 1.3% increase in April and comfortably exceeding market expectations for a 1.4% rise.
On Wall Street overnight, major U.S. benchmarks finished higher as investors rotated back into technology stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% to a fresh record high, the S&P 500 gained 0.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.1%.
In commodity markets, Brent crude settled 0.2% lower at US$71.99 a barrel, while spot gold eased 0.2% to US$4,164.32 an ounce.
Chinese markets were subdued on Monday, with the Shanghai Composite Index slipping 0.1% to 4,041.2 and the CSI 300 finishing little changed at 4,842.0.
Elsewhere in the region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed 1.1% to 23,616.3, while India's BSE Sensex gained 0.7% to 78,285.1.
European markets ended mixed overnight. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.3% to 10,651.8, Germany's DAX rose 0.2% to a fresh record close of 25,817.9, while France's CAC 40 slipped 0.3% to 8,479.9, marking its highest close since 27 February.
