Investing.com - Asian shares showed some bounce on Tuesday, but Thailand's stock market fell and its currency weakened after the nation's armed forces declared martial law.
The SET 100 benchmark index dropped 1.6% in early trading after the Thai army chief said the military would impose martial law to address a worsening security situation. The country is bitterly divided between supporters of the populist government and their conservative rivals.
The SET remains one of Asia's best performers so far this year--up 7%. But martial may see foreign investors diverting money to Indonesia and India where the political situation is more stable.
Elsewhere in Asia, most markets moved higher. Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.86% after having lost nearly 3% over the past four sessions.
Yahoo Japan Corp. (TOKYO:4689) was a major mover in Tokyo, surging 10% after the search portal announced it was scrapping plans to buy the mobile operations of eAccess and Willcom from Softbank Corp. (TOKYO:9984).
Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.72% and the Shanghai Composite index added 0.16%.
Overnight, U.S. stocks ended a lackluster session higher, mainly has bargain hunters continued to snap up nicely-priced technology stocks in a trading day void of major market-moving news.
The Dow 30 rose 0.12%, the S&P 500 index rose 0.38%, while the NASDAQ Composite Composite index rose 0.86%.
Bottom fishers snapped up technology and small-cap equities on Monday, the beneficiaries of exceptionally loose monetary policies since the 2008 downtown.
The Federal Reserve is expected to wind up its monthly bond-buying program later this year.
Markets kept an eye out towards Wednesday, when the Federal Reserve will release the minutes of its April policy meeting, with many investors opting to wait on the sidelines until they see a new weather vane that will indicate the direction of U.S. monetary policy.
On Tuesday, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Charles Plosser and Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley are to speak.