Investing.com - Asian shares were mostly weaker on Tuesday with a slew of data out of Australia failing to support the market higher with Shanghai edging up however on a solid private services reading.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.42%, while in Australia the S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.15% as e-commerce giant Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) officially launched its Australian operations that are expected to tighten competition in the country's retail space..
In Greater China, the Shanghai Composite edged up 0.05% and the Hang Seng index fell 0.33%.
Australia reported the RBA rate review for December held a steady cash rate of 1.50% as expected.
In China, the Caixin services PMI came in at 51.9, better than the reading of 51.5 expected for November.
Earlier in Australia, the current account data for the third quarter came in at a deficit of A$9.11 billion, compared with a deficit of A$9.2 billion seen. As well, retail sales rose 0.5%,for October, better that the 0.3% on month gain seen. Australia also reported the AIG services index for November at 51.7 with a previous month reading of 51.4.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, eased 0.02% to 93.03.
Overnight, the Dow Jonesrose 58.46 points to 24,2940.05, with Walt Disney and Boeing (NYSE:BA) leading advancers. The Dow also hit an intraday record and rose more than 300 points at its session high.
But the rest of the market closed lower, however, as a sharp decline in tech pressured the S&P 500 and Nasdaq composite.