Asian shares defy Wall St. gains as China rally cools

HONG KONG/NEW YORK: Asian shares slipped on Tuesday, brushing off a firmer Wall Street lead as China’s post-holiday rally cooled, although a buoyant tech sector and fresh optimism about U.S. stimulus are expected to continue to support sentiment.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped into negative territory in the Asian session, down 0.09%.

Weakness emerged early in China as the Shanghai Composite slipped 0.5%, trimming gains made in the two trading days since a week-long public holiday last week. China's blue chip index CSI300 shed 0.3%.

The morning session of Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was canceled as the city faced a typhoon warning.

In Japan, the Nikkei index was off 0.2%.

Despite the volatility across the region on Tuesday, Surich Asset Management founder Simon Yuen said he was confident Asian stock markets would retain positive fundamentals following the U.S election on Nov 3.

“We expect Asian equities should outperform the global equity market in next two to three years because if (Joe) Biden is elected U.S. shall have an easier relationship with China,” Yuen said.

“On the other hand, if (Donald) Trump is elected, China will promote demand in terms of consumer spending in order to increase their dominance over the world.”

Australian S&P/ASX 200 was the region's only bright spot, up 1% on firmer bank stocks and despite a selldown in major coal names after reports China could look to ban Australian imports of the commodity.

On Wall Street, the Nasdaq Composite on Monday staged its biggest one-day rally in a month, jumping 2.56%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.88% and the S&P 500 gained 1.64%.

The U.S. dollar was pinned near a three-week low and gold, another safe-haven asset, stayed below a three-week high, slapped by investor demand for risk.