Asia stocks climb tracking Wall Street’s rebound; RBI decision looms

Investing.com-- Asian stocks advanced on Tuesday, tracking Wall Street’s strong rebound after soft U.S. jobs data boosted expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut, while investor sentiment remained cautious amid heightened global trade tensions.

Focus also turned to the Reserve Bank of India’s ongoing policy meeting, with the central bank widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged on Wednesday.

Wall Street ended sharply higher on Monday, wiping out most of last week’s decline, spurred by a weaker-than-expected nonfarm payrolls data, and President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements.

U.S. stock index futures edged higher in Asian trading on Tuesday.

S.Korea, Australia stocks lead gains

U.S. markets fell last week after Friday’s U.S. jobs report showed nonfarm payrolls rising by just 73,000 in July, well below expectations, with May and June figures significantly revised down. The unemployment rate rose to 4.2%, reinforcing concerns about a slowing U.S. economy. 

This sharp slowdown pushed the probability of a September rate cut by the Fed to around 94%, setting the tone for risk appetite across global markets.

Asian stock markets climbed, tracking U.S. peers.

South Korea’s KOSPI index led gains with a 1.6% jump, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 also rose over 1%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.6%, while the broader TOPIX index traded 0.7% higher.

China’s Shanghai Composite index rose 0.5%, while the Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 edged 0.3% higher.

Bucking the regional trend, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index edged 0.2% lower on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, Singapore’s Straits Times Index rose 0.5%.

Trade tariff tensions, RBI meeting in focus

On trade policy fronts, markets continued to wrestle with renewed tariff threats from President Trump. 

He warned of raising tariffs on Indian imports over Russian oil purchases, adding another layer of uncertainty to markets already facing sweeping trade measures announced last week.

Futures for India’s Nifty 50 edged up 0.2% on Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee convened its three-day meeting on Monday with a decision due on August 6. 

Markets expect the central bank to hold its policy rate at 5.50% after a frontloaded 0.5% cut in June. The central bank adopted a neutral stance in June, signaling future rate cuts will hinge on new economic data.

With headline inflation slowing, the RBI has leeway to cut rates again, but robust economic growth in the first quarter and global uncertainties around tariffs could see the central bank holding rates steady.

“With real rates still elevated, we continue to expect a 25 bp cut later this year in the fourth quarter,” ING analysts said in a recent note.