Tuesday saw a drop in Asian equities as investors digested about the continuity of rising global prices. This week, investors’ focus will be pulled back to U.S. inflation data and the prospect of further aggressive Federal Reserve rate hikes.
At 9.31 a.m. local time in Thailand, the Nikkei 225 in Japan lost 0.81% and South Korea’s Kospi was 0.34% lower.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was little changed.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 0.57%.
Meanwhile, mainland China’s Shanghai Composite gained 0.13%.
Wall Street closed mostly flat on Monday after last week’s record-breaking jobs data reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will tighten monetary policy.
Investors are now waiting for Wednesday’s consumer price data to see if the Fed will ease up on its inflation fight and allow the economy to grow more quickly.
In company data, Japan tech giant SoftBank on Monday posted a record $23 billion net loss for the three months ending in June, hit by upheaval at its Vision Fund unit after a broad tech sector selloff.
