Asian Stock Market: Trades mixed ahead of US inflation data

• Asian stocks trade mostly lower ahead of the critical US data.
• US Inflation data, UK jobs numbers are awaited to find further direction.
• China miffed with the US over the renaming of the Taipei red office.

Asia-Pacific stocks trade mostly lower on Tuesday diverting from their counterparts on Wall Street.

US market closed in green, while Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2%, S&P 500 closed flat.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.13%.

Traders keep a watch over the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) data due in the day after the US consumer’s inflation expectations jumped to 5.2% in August. The readings are expected to cast a strong influence on Fed’s tapering plan.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.63% to trade near to its 31-year high after Taro Kono finally announced his candidacy for the upcoming election to lead the ruling LDP party. Adding to the optimism was the drop registered in new coronavirus infections, with fresh 4,171 new cases on Monday, for the first time count came below 5,000 since July 26.

The Shanghai Composite Index remained almost flat on Tuesday following the reports that new COVID-19 cases came at more than double in China’s southeastern province of Fujian.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 0.05%, while South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.07% on Tuesday.

The ASX 200 lost 0.26% as traders sentiment were beaten down following the slowing down of the pace of COVID-19 vaccinaions in New South Wales.

US Dollar Index (DXY) trades virtually unchained ahead of the US CPI data, which will provide the broader picture of the country’s domestic economic recovery situation.