Investing.com - Asian shares trade weaker on Tuesday with regional events dominating trade sentiment, including the upcoming Australian federal budget and presidential polls in South Korea.
Japan's Nikkei 225 edged down 0.08% after a strong showing in the previous session. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 0.3% with investors noting the suspension in the trade of China Huishan Dairy Holding shares was extended by regulators. Shares of the troubled company plunged 85% in March this year.
The Shanghai Composite eased 0.2%.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.47%, driven by the financials sub-index, which eased 1.9%. Commonwealth Bank fell 2.75%, ANZ was off by 2.2% and Westpac was down 2.73%.
Australia reports its federal budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 with housing policies in focus. Earlier, Australia reported retail sales for March fell 0.1% and edged up 0.1% in the first quarter, missing expected gains of 0.3% and 0.4% respectively.
In South Korea, markets are shut for the country's presidential election that opinion polls show favors Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party of Korea, who is seen as a more liberal candidate on the economy and policies dealing with North Korea.
Overnight, U.S. stocks closed slightly above breakeven on Monday, as investors cheered centrist Emmanuel Macron’s landslide victory over Marine Le Pen in the runoff vote on Sunday.
Investors sentiment shifted towards riskier assets, as centrist candidate Macron won the race to the French presidency, defeating anti-EU candidate by a landslide margin, after he garnered 66% of the French vote.
Meanwhile, on the economic data front, investors digested comments from St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard and Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester.
Fed official Mester hinted at the idea of further rate hikes, after she said that the Federal Reserve is close to meeting its employment and inflation objectives.
"We have met the maximum employment part of our mandate and inflation is nearing our 2 percent goal." Mester said on Monday.
Meanwhile, Fed official Bullard adopted a somewhat dovish tone, highlighting the stronger demand for safe assets as well as sluggish growth in the U.S. labor market as headwinds for potential rate hikes.
Fed official Bullard’s comments failed to dampened expectations for a June rate hike, which soared to its highest level on Monday, following a strong U.S. jobs report released on Friday.
According to investing.com’s Fed rate monitor tool, nearly 80% of traders expect the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates in June, compared to 63% in the previous week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average at 21,012.28, up 0.03%. The S&P 500 closed roughly flat while the Nasdaq Composite closed at a record high of 6102.66.