Asian Markets Mixed as Investors Gauge Inflation

Tokyo, Sep 10 (AP) Asian shares were trading mixed Tuesday after a rally on Wall Street that regained some of the losses from the market's worst week in nearly a year and a half.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose nearly 0.2 per cent in afternoon trading to 36,282.25. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.4 per cent to 8,021.10, while South Korea's Kospi lost 0.3 per cent to 2,529.02. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.4 per cent to 17,270.12. The Shanghai Composite declined 0.2 per cent to 2,729.86.

Investor attention is now turning to the latest monthly updates on inflation at the consumer and wholesale levels that will be released later in the week.

The United States Federal Reserve has been using high interest rates to pump the brakes on the economy in order to stifle inflation. It's expected to start lowering rates later in September, which would ease the pressure on the economy, as it turns its focus toward protecting the job market and avoiding a recession.

Monday on Wall Street, the S&P 500 rallied 1.2 per cent to 5,471.05, though it didn't recoup all of its drop from Friday, let alone from the rest of the four-day losing streak that it broke. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2 per cent to 40,829.59, and the Nasdaq composite gained 1.2 per cent to 16,884.60.

Boeing climbed 3.4 per cent after reaching a tentative deal with its largest union on a new contract that, if ratified, will avoid a strike that threatened to shut down aircraft production by the end of the week. Boeing said 33,000 workers represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers would get pay raises of 25 per cent over the four-year contract.

Nvidia and other Big Tech companies also returned to their long-held position of leading the market, at least briefly. Nvidia climbed 3.5 per cent and was the strongest force pushing the S&P 500 upward, after tumbling 13.9 per cent tumble the previous week.

Apple's stock was virtually flat after the company unveiled its latest iPhone model, the 16. It's the first model to be tailored specifically for artificial intelligence, with expected improvements to virtual assistant Siri.

In the bond market, the 10-year Treasury yield edged down to 3.71 per cent from 3.72 per cent late Friday.

In energy trading, benchmark US crude fell 19 cents to USD 68.52 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 15 cents to USD 71.69 a barrel.

In currency trading, the US dollar edged down to 143.09 Japanese yen from 143.15 yen. The euro cost USD 1.1041, little changed from USD 1.1040.