Risk sentiments turned downbeat on geopolitical tensions emanating from Libya and Iran. The recent news report that the US is proposing tariff hikes on the EU products and announcing a ban on 16 Saudi Arabians to arrive in the country adds volume into the geopolitical risk. The Trump administration moved toward imposing tariffs on about $11 billion in imports from the European Union, in response to the block's subsidies for aircraft maker Airbus.
Meanwhile, investor sentiment was hampered following news that U.S. officials are "not satisfied yet" about all the issues standing in the way of a deal to end the U.S.-China trade war. However, a top White House official also stated that progress had been made in talks with China last week. Growing uncertainties on the Sino-U.S. trade front ahead of the Fed minutes release on Wednesday saw investors across the board adopt a cautious approach.
Market participants are now awaiting minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee's March meeting, due on Wednesday, while the European Central Bank meeting on the same day is also on investors' radar. There is an expectation for a dovish-biased statement based on what came out in March. The larger issue is how concerned are our policy makers over the state of global economy. The US Federal Reserve last month abandoned projections for any interest rate hikes this year amid signs of an economic slowdown.
Shares of materials an out of steam and were little changed after surge in the previous session, shrugging off record high Chinese iron ore prices. Top miners BHP Group and Rio Tinto staged a lacklustre performance, edging up 0.2% and 0.1% respectively. Lithium miners such as Pilbara Minerals, Galaxy Resources and Kidman Resources slipped.
Energy stocks were higher, as oil prices hit fresh 5-month peaks due to OPEC-led supply cuts and U.S. sanctions. Beach Energy jumped 5.5% and Woodside Petroleum gained 2.7%. Santos was up 2.9% after announcing a "significant" gas find in South Australia. Oil Search jumped 2.3% after the company, along with France's Total SA and Exxon Mobil, signed a deal with Papua New Guinea to start work on a LNG project.
Financials were lower, with all four of the big banks down, between 0.2% and 0.8%, with top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia losing most among them.
Tech stocks saw gains, with Appen up 4.1% after the machine learning dataset company said its A$15 million share purchase price was 3.4 times oversubscribed.
Crown Resorts, Australia's biggest casino firm, closed 19.7% higher after gaming firm confirmed it was in talks with Las Vegas rival Wynn Resorts about a potential A$10 billion buyout.
CURRENCY: The Australian dollar rose against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday. The Australian dollar was quoted at 71.35 US cents, from 70.99 US cents on Monday.
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