TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares were mixed Tuesday with some markets closed or anticipating holidays and investors showing muted reaction to the latest historic U.S. banking failure.
Japan's Nikkei 225 edged up 0.2% to 29,175.44 in morning trading. Trading in Tokyo will be closed for Golden Week holidays the rest of the week. Trading was closed in Shanghai for Labor Day.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.2% to 7,319.40. South Korea's Kospi gained 0.8% to 2,522.09. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was virtually unchanged at 19,885.48.
The Reserve Bank of Australia was holding a policy meeting, but no change was expected. Economic and inflation reports are also expected in Europe ahead of the central bank meeting later in the week.
Markets are also bracing for what is hoped to be the last interest rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve for some time. Oil prices and currencies were little changed.
Recent China's manufacturing data showed a contraction, reflecting how the weakening export market is starting to hurt the domestic economy, according to analysts.
“We believe that the government will resume subsidies on electric vehicles, which would benefit both the manufacturing and services sector. The government might also push infrastructure construction faster,” said Robert Carnell and other analysts at ING in their report.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 was virtually unchanged after regulators seized First Republic Bank and sold off most of it in hopes of preventing more turmoil in the industry. It dipped 1.61, or less than 0.1%, to 4,167.87. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 46.46, or 0.1%, to 34,051.70, and the Nasdaq composite fell 13.99, or 0.1%, to 12,212.60.
First Republic has been feared as the next to topple following March’s failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank. That fueled a larger worry that runs on smaller and midsized banks could take down the economy, like the financial industry's woes did in 2008.
But analysts and economists see big differences between then and now. The biggest U.S. banks are feeling less pressure now, and several banks under scrutiny have said their deposit levels have strengthened since late March. And the stock market's reaction indicates investors see First Republic Bank, which plunged 75% last week, as an isolated rather than systemic problem.
Shares of JPMorgan Chase, which is buying much of First Republic’s assets, rose 2.1%. It’s becoming even bigger following the deal.
Still, many other questions continue to hang over Wall Street that could shake things up. They include worries about corporate profits and the U.S. government’s latest squabble over the country’s debt limit.