Investing.com - Asian shares were mostly weaker on Tuesday with remarks from the Fed chief ahead and confidence hit as the Trump administration noted the first resignation of a senior member with National Security Adviser Michael Flynn reportedly leaving over a failure to disclose the full extent of his conversations with Russian officials.
The Nikkei 225 fell 0.62%, while the S&P/ASX 200 dipped a scant 0.01%. Investors also noted China's consumer inflation rate quickened to 2.5% in January from a year earlier, the highest since May 2014 and a faster pace than expected and National Australia Bank said business confidence gained in January.
Copper prices hit its highest levels since May 2015 overnight on limited supply after strikes at BHP Billiton (LON:BLT)'s Escondida and Freeport McMoran's Indonesian Grasberg mine, Reuters reported.
Mainland Chinese shares showed the Shanghai composite down 0.14%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 0.01%.
In Japan, Toshiba shares fell 7%, and was earlier untraded due to a glut of sell orders, after the company said it can't say when the October to December quarter earnings report will be released. The Nikkei business daily had also reported that the Japanese conglomerate may not be able to continue as a going concern, following massive nuclear-related losses.
Markets awaited testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Yellen is scheduled to testify before the U.S. Senate on Tuesday and the House on Wednesday and investors will be watching her comments for clues on when the Fed could raise interest rates next.
A weekend summit meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe went better than expected, leaving risk on the wane for now. Abe and Trump also agreed to hold an economic dialogue after Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement.
Overnight, U.S. stocks were higher after the close on Monday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Financials and Industrials sectors led shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.70% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.52%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.52%.