Asia Pacific stocks mixed as investors await Reserve Bank of Australia rate decision

Stocks in Asia Pacific traded mixed on Tuesday morning as investors await the Reserve Bank of Australia’s interest rate decision.

In Japan, both the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.31% while the Topix index shed 0.33%. South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.77%, with shares of LG Chem up more than 3%.

Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.95%.

Overall, the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index traded 0.23% higher.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is expected to announce its interest rate decision at about 12:30 p.m. HK/SIN on Tuesday.

“The RBA this afternoon can confidently expected to be on hold as it continues to assess the outlook, where even in its best-case upside scenario, full economic recovery will take years,” Ray Attrill, head of foreign exchange strategy at National Australia Bank, wrote in a note.

Overnight stateside, stocks on Wall Street saw strong gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 459.67 points, or 1.8%, to close at 26,287.03. The S&P 500 advanced 1.6% to end its trading day at 3,179.72. The Nasdaq Composite hit an all-time high, surging 2.2% to close at 10,433.65.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 96.748 after earlier declining from levels above 96.8.

The Japanese yen traded at 107.32 per dollar following a strengthening from levels above 107.6 yesterday. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6973 after bouncing from levels around $0.695 yesterday.

Oil prices nudged higher in the morning of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up slightly to $43.14 per barrel. U.S. crude futures also added 0.2% to $40.71 per barrel.