Muslim devotees are breaking their fast and having their meals on the last Friday of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, also known as Jumat-ul-Vida, at the Jama Masjid in the old quarters of New Delhi, India.
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Asia-Pacific markets pared gains hours after opening higher on Tuesday as stocks on Wall Street stumbled overnight, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average snapping an eight-day winning streak.
Investors in Asia assessed India’s inflation numbers. Data released Monday showed consumer price index climbed 4.83% year on year, nearly in line with the 4.8% expected by economists polled by Reuters.
India’s wholesale inflation reading is due to be released later in the day.
Data from the Bank of Japan showed that corporate inflation was steady in April compared with a year earlier, but import prices jumped 6.4% year over year last month, most likely due to the yen’s sharp declines.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was flat, paring from earlier gains of 0.6%, while mainland China’s CSI 300 index reversed gains to trade 0.14% lower.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 and the broader Topix both traded around the flatline.
South Korea’s Kospi dipped 0.1%, while the smaller-cap Kosdaq gained 0.9%.
The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia fell 0.4%.
Overnight in the U.S., traders grappled with rising inflation expectations ahead of key reports due later in the week.
A New York Federal Reserve survey showed consumers last month raised their expectations for price increases. On a one-year basis, inflation expectations rose to 3.3%. Their five-year inflation outlook ticked up to 2.8%.
The 30-stock Dow fell 0.21%, while the S&P 500 inched lower by 0.02%. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.29%.
Shares of meme stock GameStop soared 74% after “Roaring Kitty,” the moniker of the Reddit trader behind 2021’s short squeeze, posted online for the first time in three years.
— CNBC’s Brian Evans and Lisa Kailai Han contributed to this report.