Investing.com – Asian stock markets remained mixed on Tuesday afternoon, with equities in Japan and Australia in the green but China, Hong Kong and South Korea edging down.
The Shanghai Composite extended loss by 0.29% at 1:17AM ET (05:17 GMT) while the SZSE Component also dropped 0.18%.
Hong Kong stocks are on the edge of falling into a bear market, due to drops in technology stocks, while Shanghai stocks went near the lowest level since January 2016. The Hang Seng Index slipped by 0.52%.
Although upbeat sentiment on Wall Street influenced Asian markets, the mood is still gloomy due to the trade tensions between Washington and Beijing as U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose new tariffs on an additional $267 billion worth of Chinese imports. The U.S. is due to decide soon on whether the country will go ahead with 25% tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods.
China will release data on August industrial production and retail sales on Friday, while the U.S. will also reveal details of its retail sales, industrial production and consumer sentiment on the same day.
A weakening yen bolstered Japan’s stocks, resulting in a rise of 1.26% by the Nikkei 225.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s KOSPI slipped 0.24%. Down under, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 went up by 0.62%.
Australia is set to announce its employment data on Thursday. On the same day, the market awaits the policy decisions from the Bank of England and European Central Bank.
Separately, the White House delivered a message to North Korea on Monday saying that Washington is ready for a second meeting with Kim Jong Un.