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TOKYO (AP) Asian stocks fell largely on Tuesday as some investors took a wait-and-see attitude after US markets closed for a national holiday.
Some investors were also disappointed after a meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Secretary of State Antony Blinken from both sides showed no signs of progress on Taiwan, human rights, technology and other contentious issues.
The Japanese benchmark Nikkei 225 fell less than 0.1% to 33,388.91 during afternoon trading. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.9% to 7,357.80. The South Korean Kospi lost 0.2% to 2,603.27. The Hong Kong Hang Seng fell 1.8% to 19,550.76, while the Shanghai Composite fell 0.5% to 3,240.87.
The Chinese government said the meeting between Xi and the top US diplomat led to frank and in-depth talks. Bilateral relations are at their lowest point in decades. Both parties indicated their willingness to cooperate.
There is no question that China and the US need each other and their relationship to get back on a more secure footing for mutually beneficial commercial reasons and to reduce the risk of actual conflict, Clifford Bennett, chief economist at ACY Securities, said in a comment.
China’s economy is recovering at a slower than expected pace after disruptions caused by efforts to overcome COVID-19 led the central bank to cut its benchmark 1-year bond rate by a tenth of a percentage point to 3.55 on Tuesday %.
The 5-year rate was cut to 4.2% to facilitate lending and encourage spending and investment to boost economic activity.
Recent easing measures suggest reopening efforts are losing their luster, laying the groundwork for more policy intervention in the coming months, IG’s Yeap Jun Rong said in a comment.
US markets were closed for the Juneteenth national holiday. Markets are also looking at the direction of rate hikes.
Last week, the Federal Reserve held its benchmark lending rate steady, the first time in 10 consecutive monthly meetings it has not announced a hike. The Fed has warned it could raise interest rates twice more this year.
In energy markets, benchmark US crude lost $1.02 to $70.76 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 26 cents to $75.83 a barrel.
In currency trading, the US dollar rose from 141.91 yen to 142.07 Japanese yen. The euro was priced at $1.0931, up from $1.0921.
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Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama
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