Asia opens mixed with RBA meeting in focus

Asian stocks opened the second session of the week on mixed performance, with positive gains in the Chinese, Australian and New Zealand stocks, as well as Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index. in a corrective phase after their extended losses yesterday. While the Japanese stocks and South Korea's Kospi Index fell with the return of pulse in Tokyo and Seoul's markets on Tuesday.

US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said China had backtracked on previous agreements over the weekend and noted that Washington would increase tariffs on incoming Chinese goods from 10 to 25% by next Friday.

This comes hours after the threat of US President Donald Trump on Sunday through his official Twitter account on the return of tariffs on Chinese imports to the country estimated at $200 billion with raising the fee from 10% to 25% by next Friday, and also threatened Imposing a an additional 25% tariff on imported Chinese goods estimated at $325 billion soon.

This comes as a result of the US administration's pressure on China while slowing down the negotiations process aimed reaching a trade agreement between Washington and Beijing, and on the eve of Chinese Vice Premier Liu He's visit to Washington on Wednesday for further discussions and trade talks between the two sides. as the Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer visited Beijing last week.

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that China was considering canceling trade talks with the United States, but the Chinese Foreign Ministry later reported that a Chinese delegation would go to Washington, which in one way or another restored market hopes for the two sides' In the wake of the expiration of the truce they reached at the end of last year, which was extended earlier this year.

In addition, investors are focusing on the Reserve Bank of Australia's meeting on the threshold of decisions and directions of the Bank of Australia's monetary policymakers and the release of the Federal Funds Interest Rate amid expectations of a 25 basis point reduction to 1.25% from 1.50%. As Retail Sales declined in growth and the Trade Balance Index's surplus narrowed during the last month.

In terms of trading, the Japanese stock indices witnessed a decline during today's trading session, with Topix index falling by 0.47% to lose 7.55 points down to the level of 1,610.38, Nikkei 225 also fell by 0.76% shedding 169.35 points down to 22,089.38 level.

On the other hand, China's CSI 300 rose by 1.12% (41.34 points) to reach 3,725.96. The Shanghai Composite Index rose by 0.74% (21.50 points) to reach the level of 2,927.97.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index gained 0.71% (208.20 points) to 29,418.02, while South Korea's Kospi fell 0.95% to 20.94 points to 2,175.38.

To the NZX 50 index of New Zealand stocks, which rose by 0.66 (66.12 points) to reach 10,026.74. On the other hand, the S&P/ASX 200 index of Australian shares rose by 0.88% (55.17 points) to 6,338.90.