Asia markets fall as South Korea’s inflation accelerates

Key Points

• Asia-Pacific stocks fell on Tuesday as South Korea’s inflation rose.
• Consumer prices in South Korea rose 6.3% in July compared with the same period in 2021, official data showed on Tuesday.
• Investors are also looking ahead to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s interest rate decision.

SINGAPORE — Asia-Pacific stocks fell on Tuesday as South Korea’s inflation rose and investors look ahead to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s interest rate decision.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan slipped 0.87%, and the Topix index lost nearly 1%.

In South Korea, the Kospi shed 0.39% and the Kosdaq declined 0.21%.

Consumer prices in South Korea rose 6.3% in July compared with the same period in 2021, official data showed on Tuesday. That’s in line with expectations and the fastest acceleration in prices since November 1998, Reuters reported.

The Bank of Korea raised rates by 50 basis points in July.

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Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was 0.39% lower.

The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to hike by 50 basis points after official data showed prices in Australia rose 6.1% in the second quarter compared with a year ago.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside of Japan declined 0.28%.

Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 46.73 points, or 0.14%, to 32,798.40.

The S&P 500 shed 0.28% to 4,118.63 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.18% and closed at 12,368.98.

TICKER	COMPANY	NAME	PRICE	CHANGE	%CHANGE
.N225	Nikkei 225 Index	*NIKKEI	27730.38	-262.97	-0.94
.HSI	Hang Seng Index	*HSI	20165.84	0	0
.AXJO	S&P/ASX 200	*ASX 200	6959.4	-33.6	-0.48
.SSEC	Shanghai	*SHANGHAI	3259.96	0	0
.KS11	KOSPI Index	*KOSPI	2446.78	-5.47	-0.22
.FTFCNBCA	CNBC 100 ASIA IDX	*CNBC 100	8165.24	-28.87	-0.35

Currencies

The U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 105.402.

The Japanesse Yen traded at 131.50 per dollar, continuing its strengthening trend. The Australian Dollar was at $0.7026, after breaking above $0.7.

“The AUD is higher as the USD drifted lower overnight amid more weak U.S. data,” ANZ Research said in a Tuesday note.

Oil futures slipped on Tuesday. U.S Crude shed 0.22% to $93.68 per barrel after settling 4.8% lower in the previous session, and The Brent Crude lost 0.25% to $99.78 per barrel. The international benchmark settled 3.79% lower.

Source : CNBC