Tokyo, Japan (BBN) – Asian equities traded mixed on Tuesday morning, after the Reserve Bank of Australia released its March meeting minutes and the dollar continued to weaken.
The ASX 200 slipped 0.19 percent, dragged by its financials sub-index, which was down 0.53 per cent, reports CNBC.
The RBA’s March meeting minutes revealed that the central bank saw growing risks in the overheating housing market.
“This reinforces the idea that the prospect of another rate cut anytime soon is remote, and paves the way for a tightening of macro-prudential measures quite imminently,” said Nizam Idris, Gareth Berry and Teresa Lam, strategists at Macquarie Bank, in a Tuesday note.
They added that the RBA “is perfectly justified in sounding the alarm at this point” with household debt in Australia and Canada among the highest in the world.
Engineering and construction firm Downer EDI is looking to launch a A$1.27 billion ($981 million) takeover bid for cleaning and catering company Spotless Group at A$1.15 per share.
Downer EDI shares were untraded at A$7.42 per share, and Spotless Group rallied 45.86 per cent to A$1.055.
The Japanese benchmark dropped 0.5 per cent as the yen remained at 112. 54, weaker than last week’s range between 112.53 to 114.9.
Toshiba’s US Westinghouse Electric is taking offers for a financing package to help it go through US bankruptcy, Reuters reported.
Shares of Toshiba climbed 1.42 per cent.
In South Korea, the Kospi rose 0.81 per cent.
Former President Park Geun-hye apologized to the country on Tuesday as she arrived at prosecutors offices for further questioning as a criminal suspect in a corruption probe.
Chinese shares were negative early on Tuesday.
Shanghai composite fell 0.1 per cent and Shenzhen composite slipped 0.08 per cent.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.06 per cent.
US equities closed mixed on Monday, as investors turned their focus on Federal Reserve officials.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 0.04 per cent to close at 20,905.86, S&P 500 slipped 0.2 per cent to 2,373.47 and the Nasdaq composite was up just 0.01 per cent to 5,901.53.
The US central bank raised interest rates by 25 basis points last week for the first time this year, but the “dot plot” that shows each member’s expectations for where rates will be in coming years changed little from the last meeting.
Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said the central bank will likely wait until June to decide on the next rate hike.
Ahead on Tuesday, Fed officials will be speaking from around the world.
They include New York Fed President William Dudley, who speaks at 6:35am in London, while Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren speaks in Bali, Indonesia. Kansas City Fed President Esther George speaks on the economy at noon and Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester speaks at 6pm ET on the outlook and communications.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, was weaker at 100.16.
The softer dollar was the result of “remnants from last week’s ‘dovish hike’ by the Fed rather than an existing conviction trade,” said Vishnu Varathan, senior economist at Mizuho Bank, in a daily note.
Against the dollar, the yen remained stronger against the greenback at 112.6 while the Australian dollar traded at $0.7718.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May will trigger article 50 on March 29, her spokesperson said on Monday.
This will begin the two-year countdown of negotiations leading to Britain leaving the European Union.
During Asian trade on Tuesday, the pound was steady and fetched $1.2375 by 9:40am HK/SIN.
“The announcement to trigger article 50 was never likely to be the straw that broke the camel’s back for Sterling, as the milestone has had nine months of airtime,” said Matt Simpson, senior market analyst at ThinkMarkets, in a Tuesday note.
“The performance of sterling now comes down to the perception of how well the UK government are doing in the process.”
On the energy front, oil prices slipped as traders worry about growing US crude stockpiles and output.

During Asian trade, Brent crude was up 0.43 per cent to $51.84 a barrel, while US crude added 0.29 per cent to $48.36.
BBN/SK/AD