Investors watch Evergrande stocks; Chinese markets closed

SINGAPORE – Stocks in Asia-Pacific fell on Tuesday morning as investors continue to monitor the situation surrounding struggling developer China Evergrande Group.

Japanese stocks fell as they returned to trade after a holiday Monday. The Nikkei 225 fell 1.61% while the Topix index lost 1.69%.

In Australia, the S & P / ASX 200 fell 0.14%.

The MSCI’s largest Asia-Pacific stock index outside of Japan traded down 0.17%.

The liquidity crisis within the China Evergrande group could continue to weigh on investor sentiment regionally after the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was pulled down more than 3% on Monday.

Mainland China and South Korea markets are closed on Tuesday for a public holiday.

Overnight in the US, the S&P 500 had its worst day since May, falling 1.7% to 4,357.73. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 614.41 points to 33,970.47 while the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.19% to 14,713.90.

The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 93.239 after rising late last week to around 92.8.

The Japanese yen was trading at 109.43 per dollar, having strengthened yesterday by around 110 against the greenback. The Aussie dollar changed hands at $ 0.7258 as it struggles to recover after falling more than $ 0.73 last week.