SYDNEY/NEW YORK : Asian stocks started off on a weak footing on Tuesday after a largely soft performance on Wall Street and as persistent concerns over the spread of the Delta variant of the coronavirus dented sentiment and triggered falls in metals and oil prices.
Japan's Nikkei was UP 0.9per cent while Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX200 was 0.2per cent higher on the back of strong earnings results. Gold stabilised after falling to a more than four-month low on Monday as strong U.S. jobs data bolstered expectations for an early tapering of the Federal Reserve's economic support measures.The strong jobs data lifted U.S. Treasury yields. Benchmark 10-year notes were last yielding 1.3237per cent, up from 1.3170per cent on Monday.
U.S. stock indexes were mostly soft, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.3per cent, the S&P 500 off 0.09per cent while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.16per cent. MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe were 0.03per cent lower.