BANGKOK — Asian shares were mixed on Tuesday after U.S. stock indexes inched to more records at the start of a week of profit updates from big U.S. companies.
Japan’s benchmark surged and then fell back as it reopened from a holiday Monday following the ruling coalition’s loss of its upper house majority in Sunday’s election.
The Nikkei 225 shed 0.3% to 39,694.89.
Analysts said the market initially climbed as investors were relieved that Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba vowed to stay in office despite the setback. But the election’s outcome has added to political uncertainty and left his government without the heft needed to push through legislation.
A breakthrough in trade talks with the U.S. might win Ishiba a reprieve, but so far there’s been scant sign of progress in negotiating away the threat of higher tariffs on Japan’s exports to the U.S. beginning Aug. 1.
“Relief may be fleeting. Ishiba’s claim to leadership now rests on political duct tape, and history isn’t on his side. The last three LDP leaders who lost the upper house didn’t last two months,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.3% to 25,057.11, while the Shanghai Composite index also was up 0.3%, at 3,568.78.
South Korea’s Kospi sank 1.4% to 3,165.40, with investors concerned over the Aug. 1 deadline for making a deal with U.S. President Donald Trump or facing 25% tariffs on all the country’s exports to the U.S.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was little changed at 8,666.30.
India’s Sensex gained 0.3%, while the SET in Thailand was up less than 0.1%.
Many of Trump’s stiff proposed tariffs are paused after he extended the deadline for talks to allow more time to reach potential trade deals that could lower those rates. Aug. 1