Asia-Pacific markets traded lower on Tuesday morning, following a mixed session on Wall Street as investors awaited the Reserve Bank of Australia’s interest rate decision and assessed stronger-than-expected inflation data from South Korea.
By 11:40 am AEDT (12:40 am GMT), Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.5%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.6%, and South Korea’s Kospi 200 dropped 1.1%.
Among data releases, South Korean consumer prices rose 2.4% year-on-year in October 2025, exceeding market expectations of a 2.1% increase.
The uptick was driven by higher energy and food costs following a weaker won, reinforcing expectations that the Bank of Korea will hold rates steady at its next meeting.
Meanwhile, attention in Australia remained on the RBA’s policy announcement later in the day, with markets widely expecting policymakers to keep interest rates unchanged amid persistent inflation pressures.
In the U.S. on Monday, major benchmarks finished mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.5%. The gains in the tech-heavy Nasdaq were fuelled by optimism around artificial intelligence investments.
Amazon shares jumped 4% after the company announced a US$38 billion partnership with OpenAI to use hundreds of thousands of Nvidia graphics processing units for AI workloads.
Nvidia also advanced about 2% after securing export licences to supply its chips to the United Arab Emirates.
In commodities, Brent crude futures added 0.2% to settle at US$64.89 per barrel, while spot gold traded flat at US$4,001.60 per ounce.
Across China, the Shanghai Composite gained 0.6% to close at 3,976.5, and the CSI 300 rose 0.3% to 4,653.4.
In contrast, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 1% to 25,158.4, while India’s BSE Sensex ticked up 0.1% to 83,978.5.
European equities also closed mixed on Monday, with the UK’s FTSE 100 slipping 0.2% to 9,701.4. Germany’s DAX added 0.7% to 24,132.4, and France’s CAC 40 eased 0.1% to 8,109.8.
