Flat Asian Trade Highlighted by Uncertainty, Trader Indecision, Low Volume

The major Asian stock indexes are trading mixed on Tuesday with volume coming in a little flat. Basically, they are trading similarly to how the U.S. markets traded on Monday. Most of the trade is being controlled by uncertainty, which tends to indicate a downside bias since investors don’t like uncertainty. However, price action suggests investors appear to be content with holding prices in range.

However, with the traditional safe-haven markets – Treasurys and Japanese Yen – trading lower, there aren’t any signs of a panic. Essentially, we could be looking at light profit-taking or position-squaring ahead of the release of the minutes from the last Federal Reserve Monetary Policy meeting on Wednesday.

As far as the cause of the uncertainty, well you can take your pick. At this time, investors are having to make decisions while dealing with the slow pace of the U.S.-China trade negotiations, the lack of clarity over Brexit, mixed U.S. economic data, signs of slower global economic growth, dovish central banks and warnings about the worst quarterly earnings season in three years.

Given that wall of uncertainty, a little setback may be necessary as investors seem to be a little reluctant to buy strength at current price levels. Instead, they may be willing to let a little air out of the rally in an effort to drive prices into a value zone.

At 03:53 GMT, Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index is trading 21773.54, up 11.89 or +0.05. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is at 30160.41, up 83.26 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 is trading 6228.60, up 7.20 or +0.12.

In China, the Shanghai Index is trading 3249.20, up 4.39 or +0.14 and in South Korea, the KOSPI Index is at 2209.35, down 1.25 or -0.06.

The futures indexes are trading lower in the United States, but like the Asian markets, the two-sided trade is likely be fueled by uncertainty, trader indecision and relatively low volume.