Asia stocks rangebound amid Russia-Ukraine focus, Fed caution

Investing.com-- Most Asian stocks moved in a flat-to-low range on Tuesday, cooling from strong gains in the prior session as investors turned cautious over Russia-Ukraine peace talks and upcoming cues from the Federal Reserve.

Regional markets took middling cues from a largely flat overnight session on Wall Street, with U.S. markets also cooling after a strong performance earlier in August.

S&P 500 Futures fell 0.1% in Asian trade, with focus squarely on the upcoming Jackson Hole Symposium, where Fed Chair Jerome Powell is set to speak this week.

A spate of recent record highs left Asian markets open to profit-taking, especially amid increased caution.

Markets were also watching for any more developments in U.S. attempts to broker a Russia-Ukraine peace treaty, after President Donald Trump met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and a cadre of European leaders at the White House on Monday.

Chinese stocks, Indian futures muted as Russia hopes cool

China’s Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 and Shanghai Composite indexes were flat on Tuesday after surging to multi-year highs on Monday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.2%.

Gift Nifty 50 Futures for India’s Nifty 50 index fell 0.2%, pointing to a weak open for the Nifty after stellar gains in the prior session.

Chinese and Indian stocks had rallied on Monday amid hopes for a swift resolution to the Russia-Ukraine war, especially after Trump met Russian President Vladimir Putin last week.

But Trump signaled a long road towards reaching a peace deal on Monday, denting hopes for a quick resolution.

The Russia-Ukraine war has become a major point of contention for China and India, given that the U.S. threatened steep tariffs against the countries over their purchases of Russian oil.

While Trump did not outline any additional tariffs on China, he did sign orders imposing up to 50% tariffs on Indian goods from later in August.

Japanese stocks steady near records; Softbank falls after $2 bln Intel investment

Japan’s Nikkei 225 and TOPIX indexes moved little on Tuesday after surging to record highs in the prior session.

Japanese markets were encouraged by strong second-quarter gross domestic product data, which helped inspire some confidence in the Asian economy, as it grapples with sticky inflation and economic headwinds from Trump’s trade tariffs.

The strong GDP data also drummed up bets on an interest rate hike by the Bank of Japan later this year.

Among individual stocks, SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:9984) fell nearly 2% after it announced a $2 billion investment in beleaguered U.S. chipmaker Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC). The move stands to make Softbank (OTC:SFTBY) one of Intel’s biggest shareholders, and comes as the Japanese tech conglomerate invests aggressively in chipmaking and artificial intelligence.

Other Asian markets moved in a flat-to-low range. Australia’s ASX 200 fell 0.6% after hitting record highs on Monday. A private survey showed Australian consumer sentiment improved in August amid optimism over more interest rate cuts by the Reserve Bank.

South Korea’s KOSPI fell 0.5%, pressured by profit-taking in major tech stocks. Singapore’s Straits Times index rose 0.3%, remaining close to record highs hit last week.