(RTTNews) – Asian stock markets traded mixed on Tuesday, following positive signals from European markets overnight, as investors remained cautious amid lingering concerns about inflation, slowing growth and rising prices. interest rates by major central banks pushing towards a possible recession. Signs of new waves of COVID-19 infections in China also hurt market sentiment. Asian markets closed weakly on Monday.

Australia’s stock market edged higher on Tuesday, extending gains from the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index remaining above the 6,600 level, following positive signals from European markets overnight, largely boosted by gold mining, energy and technology, as traders cautiously await policy from the Reserve Bank of Australia on Tuesday, where the RBA is again expected to offer another half rate hike -point.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 gained 12.40 points or 0.19% to 6,625.00, after hitting a high of 6,640.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries index was up 14.90 points or 0.22% at 6,811.80. Australian shares closed sharply higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and Mineral Resources fell slightly by 0.2% each, while Fortescue Metals and BHP Group added almost 1% each. OZ Minerals grew by 0.3%.

Oil inventories are higher, with Beach Energy and Santos gaining almost 1% each, while Woodside Energy adds more than 1% and Origin Energy gains 0.4%.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are up nearly 2% each, while Zip adds 2.5% and WiseTech Global is up more than 1%. Appen loses almost 1%.

Gold miners are higher. Resolute Mining jumped nearly 7%, Newcrest Mining more than 1%, Gold Road Resources more than 2%, Evolution Mining more than 4% and Northern Star Resources more than 3%.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is down 0.5%, Westpac is down almost 1%, ANZ Banking is down more than 1% and National Australia Bank is down 0.4%.

Separately, shares of Regis Resources jumped more than 10% after the gold producer and explorer reported record gold production in the June quarter.

In the currency market, the Australian dollar is trading at $0.688 on Tuesday.

The Japanese stock market is significantly higher on Tuesday, extending gains from the previous session, with the Nikkei 225 rising above the 26,300 level, following positive signals from European markets overnight, boosted by financial and technology stocks. Traders also engaged in bargain hunting after the recent three-session decline.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 closed the morning session at 26,369.24, up 215.43 points or 0.82%, after hitting a high of 26,532.51 earlier. Japanese stocks ended sharply higher on Monday.

The SoftBank group, heavyweight in the market, gained nearly 2% and the operator Uniqlo Fast Retailing gained 2.5%. Among automakers, Honda is relatively stable and Toyota adds almost 1%.

In technology, Advantest and Tokyo Electron each gained nearly 1%, while Screen Holdings gained 0.2%. In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Mizuho Financial each gained almost 1%, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial gained 0.4%.

Major exporters are mixed, with Mitsubishi Electric and Panasonic down 0.3% each, while Canon gains almost 1%. Sony is flat. Among other major gainers, Pacific Metals jumped more than 5%, M3 gained nearly 4%, Trend Micro added more than 3% and Tokio Marine Holdings was up nearly 3%.

Conversely, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha lost more than 3%.

In the currency market, the US dollar is trading in the lower range of 136 yen on Tuesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea is up 1.2%, while New Zealand, Hong Kong and Indonesia are higher by 0.3 to 0.9% each. China, Singapore and Taiwan are lower by 0.3 to 0.4% each. Malaysia is relatively flat.

Markets on Wall Street were closed Monday for the Independence Day holiday and will resume trading Tuesday.

Meanwhile, major European markets all traded higher on the day. Britain’s FTSE 100 jumped 0.89% and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.4%, while Germany’s DAX slipped 0.31%.

Crude oil futures fell in volatile trading on Monday as supply constraints amid lower OPEC production and the conflict in Ukraine were offset by fears that aggressive rate hikes by central banks trigger a global recession. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for August ended down 0.6% at $107.75 a barrel.

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