Investing.com - Share markets across Asia held weaker on Tuesday as investors looked ahead to upcoming holidays in China and prospects for a Federal Reserve rate hike.
Earlier, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams said Monday in the U.S. he sees monetary policy in the U.S. beginning to normalize this year.
"All in all, things are looking up," Williams said in remarks prepared for a UCLA Anderson School of Management event, "and if they stay on track, I see this as the year we start the process of monetary policy normalization."
Ahead this week, China will start a week-long holiday period on Thursday that will see regional activity trimmed.
The Shanghai Composite was down 1.20%, while the S&P/ASX 200 fell 2.65% and the Nikkei 225 eased 0.08%.
Overnight, U.S. stocks fell broadly on Monday as continuing fears of a recession in China spilled over into global markets, triggering a massive sell-off in commodities worldwide.
In overnight trading, China reported that industrial profits in August slumped by 8.8% on the month, suffering its largest monthly decline on record. The disappointing data comes in the wake of weak Chinese manufacturing activity last month, underscoring worries of persisting slowness in the nation's factory sector.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 312.78 or 1.92% to 16,001.89, for its fourth losing session in the last five trading days. The NASDAQ Composite index and the S&P 500 Composite index also fell sharply on Monday, as biotech stocks extended significant losses from late last week. After suffering a 5% loss on Friday, the NASDAQ Biotechnology exchange-traded fund dropped by another 6% in Monday's session and is now down by approximately 15% on the month.
The S&P 500 dipped 49.57 or 2.57% to end Monday's session at 1,881.77.