Investing.com - Asian stock markets were mostly higher on Tuesday, as investors awaited testimony from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen later in the trading day.
During late Asian trade, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.3%, China’s Shanghai Composite dipped 0.15%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed 0.02% higher, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended up 0.64%.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei ended higher after the Bank of Japan decided to leave policy unchanged as expected following the conclusion of its two-day meeting.
The central bank trimmed its growth forecast to 1.0% for the current financial year ending in March, compared with the previous forecast of a 1.1% expansion.
The yen weakened against the dollar, trading at ¥101.63 from ¥101.52 in the previous session.
Meanwhile, in Australia, the ASX/200 Index ended little changed, while the Australian dollar weakened after minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia’s July policy meeting revealed that officials were worried about the strong exchange rate.
The Australian dollar weakened to 93.64 cents against the U.S. dollar from 93.90 on Monday.
Elsewhere, shares in mainland China and Hong Kong swung between small gains and losses as market participants looked ahead to a raft of Chinese economic data later this week, including reports on second quarter gross domestic product, industrial production and retail sales.
Looking ahead, European stock market futures pointed to a lower open. The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 futures pointed to a loss of 0.3%, France’s CAC 40 dipped 0.2%, London’s FTSE 100 indicated a decline of 0.1%, while Germany's DAX slipped 0.1%.
Across the Atlantic, U.S. equity markets pointed to a steady open. The Dow futures pointed to a gain of 0.01%, the S&P 500 indicated a rise of 0.01%, while the Nasdaq 100 pointed an increase of 0.01%.