Asian stocks traded lower on Tuesday following a strong start to June, as market participants eagerly awaited the final outcome of India’s general elections. The vote counting for India’s 2024 election will commence at 8 a.m. local time, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi anticipated to secure a rare third consecutive term.
Indian stock benchmarks reached record levels on Monday, with both the Nifty 50 index and BSE Sensex climbing over 3% each. Preceding the vote counting, local exit polls indicated that Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance are likely to secure a significant majority in the lower house of parliament.
The Nikkei 225 in Japan declined by 0.43%, South Korea’s Kospi dropped by 0.41%, whereas the smaller-cap Kosdaq rebounded from earlier losses to advance by 0.65%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index edged slightly higher by 0.08%, and the CSI 300 index in China rose by 0.35%. Additionally, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index was down by 0.11% at the time.
Brent crude futures experienced a decrease of 20 cents, or 0.3%, to $78.16 per barrel. Brent closed below the $80 mark for the first time since February 7 after a decline of over 3% on Monday. Similarly, U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures saw a slight drop of 17 cents, or 0.2%, to $74.05. The U.S. crude settled close to a four-month low on Monday following a 3.6% slide.
Gold prices climbed on Monday following lackluster U.S. economic data, which solidified anticipations of a potential interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve later in the year. Spot gold rose by 0.9% to $2,348.06 per ounce after recording a 2% upsurge last month. The prices had reached an all-time high of $2,449.89 on May 20. Concurrently, U.S. gold futures also saw an increase of approximately 1% to $2,368.60 per ounce.
