Asia markets mostly fall as investors await Fed summit

Ulsan city skyline from the Hamwolru Pavilion. People can enjoy beautiful cityscape for free. Ulsan, South Korea.

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Asia-Pacific markets mostly fell Tuesday as investors await the outcome of the talks between U.S. President Donald Trump, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders at the White House.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark ticked up 0.1%, after closing at a record high in its previous session, while the broader Topix index was flat.

In South Korea, the Kospi index fell 0.2% in early trade, while the small-cap Kosdaq declined by 0.33%.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.61% at the open.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 25,230, pointing to a stronger open compared with the HSI’s last close of 25,176.85.

Investors are also looking ahead to the U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s annual speech at the central bank’s summit in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, that’s scheduled Friday.

U.S. equity futures were little changed in early Asia hours, at the start of a week filled with retail earnings and speeches from Fed officials.

Overnight stateside, all three key benchmarks ended the day near the flatline.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 34.30 points, or 0.08%, to close at 44,911.82. The S&P 500 closed down 0.01% and ended at 6,449.15, while the Nasdaq Composite inched up 0.03% to settle at 21,629.77.

Shares of two of the so-called magnificent seven stocks Meta Platforms and Microsoft dropped about 2.3% and 0.6%, weighing on the broader market.

— CNBC’s Yun Li, Pia Singh and Alex Harring contributed to this report.

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