EQUITIES
Shares in the Asia-Pacific were mostly higher Tuesday, except for the Nikkei 225 in Japan that dropped 1%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index jumped 0.91%, while the mainland Shanghai Composite added 0.31%. South Korea’s KOSPI inched 0.38% higher, and in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.09%.
Singapore and India markets are closed for a holiday on Tuesday.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.09% to close at 32,832.54, while the S&P 500 lost 0.12% to 4,140.06, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.1% to 12,644.46.
OIL
Oil prices marginally moved on Tuesday as traders awaited on the latest progress in last-ditch talks to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear accord, which would clear the way to boost its crude exports in a tight market.
The European Union late on Monday put forward a "final" text to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, awaiting approvals from Washington and Tehran. A senior EU official said a final decision on the proposal was expected within "very, very few weeks".
Brent crude futures fell 0.04%, to $96.48 a barrel, paring a 1.82% gain from the previous session. While the U.S. WTI crude futures added 0.06%, to $90.57 a barrel, after climbing 2% in the previous session.
Traders also will be watching out for weekly U.S. oil inventory data, first from the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday and then the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday, as well as market report by IEA and OPEC monthly report on Thursday.
CURRENCIES
The dollar slightly weakened, and U.S. government bond yields fell, as investors weighed mixed messages on inflation, and how aggressive the Fed might be in combating it. The U.S. dollar index was at 106.364, slightly lower after its recent jump to nearly 107.
The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes meanwhile rose to 2.755% compared with its U.S. close of 2.763% on Monday. The two-year yield, which rises with traders' expectations of higher Fed fund rates, touched 3.2115% compared with a U.S. close of 3.216%.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which tend to act as a barometer for risk appetite, gained. Bitcoin was last up 2.25% at $23,880.
GOLD
Gold prices edged lower as investors awaited U.S. inflation data for more clarity of the Fed’s rate-hike plans to combat rising pricing pressures.
Spot gold was down 0.2% at $1,785.80 per ounce, and U.S. gold futures eased 0.18% to $1,801.90.
Spot silver fell 0.3% to $20.58 per ounce, platinum was steady at $939.49, and palladium slipped 1.4% to $2,199.57.
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
Asian shares were down on Tuesday as financial markets fretted about persistent global cost pressures, with investors’ focus moves from a robust U.S. labour market last week to the incoming U.S. CPI data and the prospects for further aggressive Federal Reserve rate hikes.
The unexpectedly strong U.S. jobs data on Friday have raised the stakes for the July U.S. consumer prices report due on Wednesday, especially for the Fed's policy outlook. Investors now await the CPI data to gauge whether the Fed might ease a bit in its inflation fight and provide a better footing for the economy to grow.
