This is CNBC’s live blog covering Asia-Pacific markets.
Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed Tuesday, a day after Chinese President Xi Jinping signaled support to the country’s private sector and urged businesses to “show their “talents.”
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 ended the day 0.66% lower at 8,481, after the Reserve Bank of Australia cut rates by 25 basis points to 4.1%, in line with Reuters’ estimates. This marks the RBA’s first rate cut in over four years.
Kerry Craig, global market strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management said the RBA’s move was “more like an ‘insurance’ cut,” that is “in step with global central banks.
“The RBA has started on a policy easing cycle that was well-telegraphed, and anticipated by the market as the initial market reaction was relatively contained,” he wrote in a Tuesday note.
The Australian dollar had weakened marginally by 0.02% to 0.6354 against the dollar.
The yields on Australian 10-year government bonds have dropped nearly 20 basis points since Jan. 13 to 4.450% on Tuesday, according to LSEG data.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 ended the day 0.25% higher at 39,270.40, while the broader Topix index advanced 0.31% to close at 2,775.51.
South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.63% to close at 2,626.81 while the small-cap Kosdaq rose 0.67% to 773.65.
Mainland China’s CSI 300 Index lost 0.88% in choppy trading to close at 3,912.78.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 1.59% to close at 22,976.86, while the Hang Seng tech ended the day up 2.54% at 5,639, reversing course from the losses in the previous session after Xi’s comments in a rare closed-door symposium.
Indian markets remained in negative territory with the Nifty 50 trading 0.28% lower, while the BSE Sensex index was down 0.21% as at 1 p.m. local time.
Singapore’s first budget with Lawrence Wong as Prime Minister is currently being tabled in the parliament.
U.S. markets were closed due to a public holiday. U.S. stock futures were higher late Monday, as the major averages come off from a winning week.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures advanced 106 points, or 0.2%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.2% and 0.2%, respectively.
— CNBC’s Sarah Min contributed to this report.
Toshiba and Bain Capital-backed Kioxia Holdings surges over 21%
Shares in Japanese chipmaker Kioxia Holdings rose as much as 21.04% on Tuesday, the most since its listing on the Japanese bourse in December.
The stock extended its gains from Monday, after it turned an operating profit for the nine months ended December compared with a loss a year earlier.
Its operating profit for the nine-month period came in at 414.6 billion yen ($2.7 billion), compared to a loss of 298.12 billion yen the year before, it reported on Friday.
Kioxia Holdings is backed by private equity firm Bain Capital and electronics conglomerate Toshiba.
— Amala Balakrishner
Shares in Mitsubishi Motors surge 8.6% on news of Honda’s openness to re-kindle deal with Nissan
Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors‘ shares climbed as much as 8.6% on Tuesday, following a Financial Times report that said Honda Motor was still interested in a deal with peer Nissan Motor if its CEO Makoto Uchida stepped down.
As a strategic partner of Nissan, Mitsubishi had considered being a part of the possible integration between Nissan and Honda.
Nissan and Honda Motor last Thursday terminated their talks to merge and create what would have been the world’s third-largest automaker by sales.
— Amala Balakrishner
Australia’s central bank cut rates for the first time in over four years
Australia’s central bank cut rates by 25 basis points to 4.1% on Tuesday, making this its first easing since November 2020.
The Reserve Bank of Australia had cut rates to a key record low in 2020, given Australia’s slowing economy during the pandemic.
The central bank had held its policy rate steady at 4.35% since November 2023, following an extended period of 13 rate hikes to tame inflation at home.
— Anniek Bao
Nissan shares rise 5.66% as Honda reportedly remains open to merger if Nissan CEO steps down
Shares in Nissan Motor gained as much as 5.66% Tuesday, following reports from the Financial Times that Honda Motor was open to resuming merger talks if Nissan CEO Makoto Uchida stepped down.
Nissan and Honda Motor terminated their talks to merge and create what would have been the world’s third-largest automaker by sales, last Thursday.
Shares in Honda are trading 0.21% higher.
— Amala Balakrishner, Financial Times
Shares in Mitsubishi Heavy Industries surge over 5% on launch of new vessel for Japanese navy
Shares in Mitsubishi Heavy Industries surged as much as 6.95% Tuesday, after its shipbuilding arm launched a vessel for the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force.
Called Bingo, the vessel was ordered by the Japanese navy and is the fourth in Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Maritime Systems’ Hibiki-class of auxiliary ocean surveillance ships, JMSDF wrote in a post on X on Tuesday.
The contract for the vessel was awarded in March 2023 for about 19.6 billion yen ($129.2 million), according to reports by Naval News. The vessel is scheduled for delivery and commissioning in March 2026, the report added.
— Amala Balakrishner
