Asia-Pacific markets open higher, tracking rises in Dow, S&P 500

Most Asia-Pacific markets opened higher Tuesday, following a mixed trading session on Wall Street as investors prepare for the Federal Reserve to kick off its monetary loosening cycle.

The Fed is expected to announce its first interest rate cut since March 2022, but markets are split over the size of the reduction from the two-day policy meeting which begins Tuesday.

U.S. retail sales data is also set to take center stage as investors monitor the health of the consumer in the lead up to the Fed’s meeting.

Traders in Asia will also look toward Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports for August, which are expected to rise 15% from a year ago, according to analysts polled by Reuters, but decrease 3.3% from the previous month.

Tuesday’s economic data also includes India’s wholesale prices for August, which are anticipated to have gained 1.85% year-on-year, a cooler reading than 2.04% in July.

Chinese appliance maker Midea Group is slated to debut in Hong Kong, with shares priced at 54.80 Hong Kong dollars apiece, in what would be the city’s largest listing in more than three years.

Some Asian markets will be closed for Mid-Autumn Festival, namely South Korea, mainland China and Taiwan. Japan markets will return to trade Tuesday after being closed for a public holiday on Monday.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 opened 0.15% higher.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.22%, while the Topix was little changed.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index were at 17,425, slightly higher than the HSI’s last close of 17,422.12.

Overnight in the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.55% to a new record high at 41,622.08, tracking the rise in the S&P 500 which was up 0.13% settling at 5,633.09. If its momentum holds up, the broad-based index could notch a new all-time this week.

Meanwhile the Nasdaq Composite lost 0.52% to finish at 17,592.13, weighed down by tech stocks.

—CNBC’s Hakyung Kim and Pia Singh contributed to this report.