The Asian stock markets are looking at a mixed lead with a hint of caution on Tuesday, ahead of the Federal Reserve meeting and the release of the monthly jobs report later in the week.
A mixed batch of economic data also contributes to the lackluster sentiment, as a bigger than expected increase in durable goods orders was offset by a sharp drop in pending home sales.
The Commerce Department said durable goods orders surged 4.6 percent in December following a 0.7 percent increase in November. Economists had been expecting orders to increase by about 1.6 percent.
Meanwhile, NAR said its pending home sales index fell 4.3 percent to 101.7 in December after climbing 1.6 percent to a two-year high of 106.3 in November. Economists had expected the index to edge down by a much more modest 0.3 percent.
The major U.S. averages were mixed on Friday, as the NASDAQ rose 4.59 points or 0.2 percent to finish at 3,154.30, while the Dow edged down 14.05 points or 0.1 percent to finish at 13,881.93 and the S&P 500 fell 2.78 points or 0.2 percent to close at 1,500.18.
The major European markets were mixed on Monday as the DAX of Germany dropped 0.32 percent, but the CAC 40 of France added 0.07 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. climbed 0.25 percent and the SMI of Switzerland rose 0.34 percent.
The Asian markets were mostly higher on Monday as China’s Shanghai Composite surged 2.41 percent, while Thailand climbed 0.73 percent, Taiwan collected 0.55 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.39 percent, Singapore’s Straits Times gained 0.14 percent and New Zealand was up 0.11 percent.
Moving lower, South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.36 percent, Indonesia dipped 0.47 percent and Japan’s Nikkei shed 0.94 percent. Markets in Australia and Malaysia were off on holiday.
by RTT Staff Writer
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