TOKYO — Asian shares traded mixed on Tuesday on the second day Chinese markets were open after the Lunar New Year break.
Trading on Wall Street was closed in the United States on Monday for President’s Day. Investors generally became less optimistic amid expectations that higher interest rates would come soon.
The Chinese central bank left the interest rate on 1-year bonds unchanged on Tuesday, but lowered the 5-year interest rate by 25 basis points to 3.95%. That came as a surprise, the first time since May 2023 that the five-year interest rate has been cut.
“The reduction in the five-year LPR is likely aimed at supporting the recovery of the property market and could improve affordability for buyers by lowering mortgage rates,” said Lynn Song, chief economist at ING.
Benchmarks rose in China but fell in Tokyo, Sydney and Seoul. Oil prices rose.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.2% to 16,189.74, while the Shanghai Composite rose 0.4% to 2,921.39.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 fell 0.3% to 38,363.61 in afternoon trading.
The Australian S&The P/ASX 200 fell less than 0.1% to 7,659.00. South Korea’s Kospi lost almost 1.0% to 2,654.83.
A recent US report on wholesale inflation shows that price increases are still continuing. Such data tends to undermine hopes that the Federal Reserve could start cutting rates in March.
In energy trading, U.S. crude rose 30 cents to $79.49 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 1 cent to $83.55 a barrel.
In currency trading, the US dollar rose from 150.10 yen to 150.36 Japanese yen. The euro was at $1.0775, down from $1.0783.
