Stocks in Japan and Australia gained Tuesday morning as most other major Asian markets remained closed for public holidays.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.37 percent in early trade while the Topix index gained 0.41 percent.
In Australia, the benchmark ASX 200 gained 1.72 percent as the heavily weighted financial subindex added 4.75 percent.
Major banking stocks in the country jumped: Shares of ANZ rose 6.19 percent, National Australia Bank added 5.29 percent, Westpac shares added 7.76 percent and Commonwealth Bank gained 4.98 percent.
Those gains came after a special government-appointed inquiry into the country’s financial sector did not recommend breaking up any of the banks or interfering in the way they lend money. Still, the so-called Royal Commission recommended measures that would subject regulators to a new oversight body and also overhaul the financial industry’s pay to remove conflicts of interest, Reuters reported.
Looking ahead, investors will watch the Reserve Bank of Australia’s interest rate policy decision, due at 2:30 p.m. local time, searching for clues that the central bank is moving to a more neutral stance.
“We expect that the RBA will acknowledge the recent weak data flow and emerging global risks with a softer tone today, and that they will downgrade their growth forecasts,” analysts at ANZ Research wrote in a morning note. Those weak data points include weak housing market data, a drop in building approvals and a slump in business confidence.
“We expect that the RBA will emphasise risks, rather than incorporate all the recent negativity into their central forecast,” the analysts said.
Tuesday’s session in Asia will follow overnight gains on Wall Street.
In the currency market, the dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of peers, traded at 95.852. The Japanese yen, considered a safe-haven asset, traded at 110 to the dollar while the Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7210.
