Asian Stocks Mixed As Uncertainty Peaks Ahead Of US Election And Key Data

Stocks in the Asia-Pacific region were trading mixed as uncertainties across Japanese political arena to US presidential election kept traders on their toes, along with the key economic data that will set the tone for Federal Reserve's rate cuts.

Equity benchmarks in South Korea and Japan traded lower during the opening. Australia's S&P ASX 200 was 29 points, or 0.35%, higher at 8,250, while the Japanese Nikkei 225 was down 140 points, or 0.38%, at 38,513 as of 5:40 a.m.

Japanese stocks ended the previous session higher despite uncertainties after the current Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's coalition failed to win a majority in parliament for the first time since 2009. 

Unemployment data from Japan and Singapore, and minutes of the Bank of Korea's policy meeting will be closely watched among traders in the Asian markets. Thailand's finance minister and central bank governor will discuss next year's inflation target, Reuters reported.

Stocks in China closed Monday on a positive note and futures in Hong Kong pointed to gains on Tuesday even after the profit at industrial firms in Mainland China in September fell at a faster pace than a month earlier.

Wall Street closed the previous session with gains as traders gear up for the US election and GDP print with Donald Trump-related stocks gaining the most.

Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. soared 22% and Bitcoin was up about 3% as the market increasingly saw Trump's chances of returning to the White House higher. A victory for Trump would be more beneficial for stocks and Bitcoin, relative to his Democratic opponent, according to a Bloomberg Survey.

The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.27% and 0.65%, respectively, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.26%.

The week will also be action-packed with five of the biggest companies in the S&P 500 Index by market capitalisation, including Alphabet Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. set to report their third-quarter earings.

Meanwhile, crude oil prices edged higher after plunging over over 4% on Monday as Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu indicated that he is open to a short truce in Gaza in exchange for the release of a small number of hostages. 

Brent crude was trading 0.77% higher at $71.97 a barrel as of 6:00 a.m. IST. West Texas Intermediate was up 0.77% at $67.90.