Asian stock markets are trading lower on Tuesday, with investors treading cautiously ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy statement due on Wednesday.
The overnight lackluster session on Wall Street and lingering geopolitical worries also appear to be prompting investors to mostly stay on the sidelines.
The Australian market is trading slightly lower, giving up some early gains amid cautious moves by investors.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is down 9.8 points or 0.2 percent at 5,463.7, after having advanced to 5,484.5 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries index, which edged up to 5,485.4 in early trades, is currently at 5,464.5, down 10.9 points or 0.2 percent from previous close.
Among bank stocks, ANZ Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Australia Bank are flat, while Westpac (WBK) is lower by about 0.4 percent. Bendigo & Adelaide Bank and Bank of Queensland are down 1 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.
Among top miners, BHP Billiton (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RIO) are up 0.5 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.
Adelaide Brighton is declining more than 4 percent. Ramsay Healthcare is down over 3 percent. Ioof Holdings and JB Hi-Fi are lower by 2.7 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively.
Aristocrat Leisure, APA Group, REA Group, ALS and Navitas are down 1.5 to 2 percent.
Among the gainers, Fortescue Metals is moving up 2.6 percent and Qantas Airways is adding 2.2 percent.
Orora, Monadelphous Group, Beach Energy, Spark Infrastructure Group, WorleyParsons and Alumina (AWC) are up 1.3 to 2 percent.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar opened slightly higher against the U.S. dollar. The local unit is currently trading at US$0.9044, up 0.5 percent from Monday's close of US$0.9000.
The Japanese stock market, reopening after an extended weekend, edged lower, dragged down by a slightly stronger yen. Profit taking after recent gains and disappointing Chinese economic data released over the weekend also contributed to the weakness in the market.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was down 53 points or 0.3 percent at 15,895.3 at the end of the morning session, after declining to 18,875.6 earlier.
Pacific Metals declined 3.3 percent. Tokyo Electron was down nearly 3 percent. Credit Saison, Sumitomo Realty & Development, Tokyu Fudosan Holdings, Heiwa Real Estate, Nitto Boseki, Toho Zinc, Tokyo Tatemono, Sumitomo Metal Mining and Toyo Seikan Group Holdings were down 2 to 3 percent.
Mitsui Mining & Smelting, Takara Holdings, Isuzu Motors, Taiyo Yuden, GS Yuasa Corp., Hino Motors and Mitsui Fudosan also declined sharply.
Meanwhile, Softbank Corp. shares moved up nearly 4 percent following Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group raising the price target on its IPO. Softbank owns a significant stake in Alibaba.
Sumco Corp. gained 2.8 percent. Tokai Carbon, Kajima Corp., Oki Electric Industry, Dainippon Screen Manufacturing, Ebara Corp. and Shin-Etsu Chemical were up 1.5 to 2.5 percent at the break.
Sony Corp. (SNE), J Front Retailing, TDK Corp., Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding, Sharp Corp., West Japan Railway and Mitsui & Co. also posted notable gains.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar traded in the lower 107 yen-range in early deals in Tokyo. The yen is currently trading at 107.01 to the dollar, against Monday's close of 107.19 yen per dollar.
Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Singapore, Shanghai and Taiwan are notably lower. New Zealand and Indonesia are down with modest losses, while South Korea is trading higher.
The Malaysian market is closed for a holiday, while trading in Hong Kong will start late due to Typhoon Kalmaegi.
On Wall Street, stocks ended mixed on Monday, after turning in a lackluster performance, with investors looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later in the week.
The Dow ended up 43.6 points or 0.3 percent at 17,031.4, while the Nasdaq declined 48.7 points or 1.1 percent to 4,518.9 and the S&P 500 edged down 1.4 points or 0.1 percent to 1,984.1.
Major European markets also closed mixed on Monday. The German DAX Index inched up by 0.1 percent, while the French CAC 40 index edged down by 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index closed just below the unchanged line.
U.S. crude oil ended higher on Monday, on some encouraging economic data out of the U.S. even as investors await cues from the two-day Federal Reserve policy meet due Wednesday. Investors largely ignored some disappointing data from China that showed industrial production and retail sales to have increased slower than expected in August.
Crude oil futures for October ended up $0.65 or 0.7 percent at $92.92 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after declining to a low of $90.63 a barrel intraday.
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May 08, 2026 15:50 ET Manufacturing and services sector survey results and labor market data from main economies were the highlight on the economics news front this week. Factory orders and jobs report dominated the news flow in the U.S. Similarly, industrial production data from German garnered attention in Europe. In Asia, purchasing managers’ survey results from China and the central bank decision from Australia were in focus.