Investing.com– Asian stocks were a mixed bag in holiday-thinned trade on Tuesday, with Japanese shares extending losses after dismal economic growth data, while Australia was buoyed by gains in mining giant BHP.
Markets in China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Singapore, were closed for the Lunar New Year holiday, while a Monday holiday on Wall Street also gave regional markets few trading cues.
S&P 500 Futures fell 0.4% in Asian trade with focus squarely on a swathe of U.S. economic cues due this week.
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Japan falls further after soft GDP; tech retreats
Japan’s and indexes fell 0.9% apiece on Tuesday, extending steep losses from the prior session following dismal data for the fourth quarter.
Technology stocks also faced renewed selling amid continued concerns over the impact of artificial intelligence on the industry– a notion that had battered software stocks over the past week.
(TYO:9984) fell nearly 5% and was among the worst performers on the Nikkei, while industrial stocks such as (TYO:7012) and (TYO:6501) also lost ground.
Japanese stocks extended losses from Monday after GDP data showed the economy grew substantially less than expected in the fourth quarter.
The data showed late-2025 stimulus measures from Tokyo had yielded limited results, and furthered the notion that Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will likely have to dole out more measures to support growth.
Australia buoyed by BHP on strong H1 earnings
Australia’s ASX 200 index rose 0.3%, aided chiefly by gains in mining giant (ASX:BHP), after it clocked strong earnings for the first half of the fiscal year.
BHP rose nearly 7% to a record high and was the top boost to the ASX 200, helping it rise past declines in other sectors.
The world’s largest miner clocked strong returns from a late-2025 rally in copper prices, while record-high iron ore production also boosted its topline.
Most other Asian markets were closed on Tuesday. Futures for India’s index fell 0.2%, pointing to sustained pressure on local stocks from a selldown in large-cap software names.
(NSE:INFY), (NSE:TCS), and their peers were battered by concerns that AI agents could eat a big portion of their market share.