Investing.com - Asian shares were mixed with Shanghai and Sydney down after weaker than expected trade data out of China, though Tokyo gained as GDP fell less than seen.
The Shanghai Composite was down 1.62%, on track for the first drop in five days, while the S&P/ASX 200 eased 0.70%. The Nikkei 225 rose 0.47%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was down 0.96%.
The yuan was up against the dollar Tuesday after the People's Bank of China set the fixing stronger for a fourth consecutive session at 6.5041 compared with 6.5113.
In China, trade data showed exports slumped 25.4%% in February year-on-year, well below the 12.5% drop expected, and imports declined 13.8%, also below the 10% drop seen for a trade balance surplus of $32.59 billion, far short of the $50.15 billion expected.
"We suspect that the drop in export growth largely reflects seasonal distortions due to annual shifts in the timing of Chinese New Year," Capital Economics said in a note to clients.
"In 2015, the holiday fell unusually late which meant that more of the pre-holiday rush to meet orders and less of the post holiday disruptions took place in February, causing exports to jump 48.9% y/y. This will have provided an unflattering base for comparison for last month’s figures. This base effect should reverse this month – exports fell 14.60% y/y in March 2015 – and result in a sharp rebound in export growth."
Earlier in Japan, a busy data day sees the current account for January come in at an unadjusted surplus of ¥521 billion, narrower than the surplus of ¥719 billion seen
As well, fourth quarter GDP dropped 0.3%, less than the fall of 0.4% quarter-on-quarter seen and down 1.1% year-on-year, less than the 1.5% drop expected.
In Australia, the NAB business confidence survey for February came in at plus-3, unchanged from the previous reading revised up from plus-2, along with the NAB business survey which reached plus-8, above the previous of plus-5.
Earlier, comments from Australia moved the currency slightly down.
Weak wage growth means less pressure on inflation and likely accommodative monetary policy, Reserve Bank of Australia Deputy Governor Philip Lowe said Tuesday.
"It is possible that wage outcomes will remain very subdued even in countries with strong labor markets. If this turns out to be the case then it is likely that inflation rates will also continue to be very low and monetary policy very accommodative," he said.
Overnight, U.S. stocks were mixed on Monday, amid a 5% surge in crude future and diverging comments from a pair of influential governors on the Federal Reserve on whether inflation has firmed enough to convince the U.S. central bank to approve further interest rate hikes before the end of June.
On Monday, both WTI and brent crude soared by approximately $2 a barrel extending their considerable rally over the last several weeks. Since falling to 13-year lows of $26.05 a barrel on February 11, U.S. crude futures have rebounded by more than 30%. In Monday's session, the U.S. and international benchmarks of crude traded near their highest levels on the calendar year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 67.18 or 0.40% to 17,073.95, while the NASDAQ Composite index fell 8.77 or 0.19% to 4,708.25, as sharp losses among the so-called FANG stocks weighed. Shares in Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:FB), Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:AMZN), Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:NFLX) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) all fell by more than 2% on Monday, pulling the NASDAQ lower for the first time in five sessions.
The S&P 500 Composite index, meanwhile, inched up 1.77 or 0.09% to 2,001.76, as stocks in six of 10 sectors closed in the green. Stocks in the energy industries, led each gaining more than 1.5% on the session.