By Investing.com– Most Asian stocks were flat on Tuesday as focus turned to a barrage of key earnings due in the coming days, while Japanese markets extended gains after the country’s ruling coalition lost its parliamentary majority.
Regional markets brushed off a positive lead-in from Wall Street, as U.S. stocks drifted higher amid some hopes that geopolitical tensions in the Middle East will not worsen.
Wall Street futures were flat in Asian trade, with focus squarely on a slew of mega-cap technology earnings due in the coming days.
Japan’s Nikkei extends gains after election results
Japan’s Nikkei 225 and TOPIX indexes were outliers among Asian stocks, rising 0.3% and 0.9% respectively as they extended strong gains from the prior session. Nippon Paint Holdings Co Ltd (TYO:4612) was the biggest boost to the TOPIX, rallying as much as 24% after it announced a deal to buy U.S. chemical maker AOC.
Broader gains in Japanese markets came tracking a sharp drop in the yen, after the country’s ruling coalition, led by the Liberal Democratic Party, lost its parliamentary majority in the general elections held over the weekend.
The LDP will now have to seek coalitions with smaller regional parties to keep power, presenting an uncertain outlook for Japanese politics. But the prospect of political uncertainty spurred bets that the Bank of Japan will not have enough headroom to keep raising interest rates.
The BOJ is set to meet later this week and is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged.
Asian markets muted with tech earnings, econ. data on tap
Broader Asian markets kept to a tight range on Tuesday, with focus turning to major U.S. tech earnings due in the coming days. Google owner Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) will report after the U.S. market close on Tuesday, while Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) will report on Wednesday.
Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) are set to report on Thursday.
Earnings from the five firms- which are some of the biggest stocks in the world- are expected to act as a bellwether for broader markets.
Regionally, a slew of major economic readings are also on tap. Australia’s ASX 200 rose 0.5% before third-quarter consumer inflation data due on Wednesday.
China’s Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite indexes fell 0.1% each, with purchasing managers index data for October due on Thursday. The reading is expected to offer more cues on the Chinese economy after Beijing rolled out a slew of stimulus measures over the past month.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index added 0.6%, buoyed by some buying in tech stocks.
South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.3%, while futures for India’s Nifty 50 pointed to a mildly weaker open, as a rebound in local stocks appeared to be short-lived. More major Indian earnings are also due this week, with Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (NS:APSE), Bharti Airtel Ltd. (NS:BRTI) and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (NS:SUN) set to report later on Tuesday.