Europe shares mixed after Asian decline on tech downturn

Higher interest rates tend to work as a minus for share prices.Fighting in the Ukraine and attacks on Europes biggest nuclear plant are other factors hanging over markets.Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of shelling a nuclear power plant in Russia-occupied southeastern Ukraine, attacks that have fuelled international concerns.The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has six nuclear reactors, and the fighting around it has raised the danger of a nuclear accident.Frances CAC 40 inched up less than 2 points to 6,526.13, while Germanys DAX fell 0.4 per cent to 13,632.20.Britains FTSE 100 gained less than 0.1 per cent to 7,489.68.

European benchmarks were mixed on Tuesday after gains in most Asian markets despite weakness in technology shares, including Japan's SoftBank.

Such worries are coming on top of concerns about inflation and what central banks might do to curb that trend. Higher interest rates tend to work as a minus for share prices.

Fighting in the Ukraine and attacks on Europe's biggest nuclear plant are other factors hanging over markets.

Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of shelling a nuclear power plant in Russia-occupied southeastern Ukraine, attacks that have fuelled international concerns.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has six nuclear reactors, and the fighting around it has raised the danger of a nuclear accident.

France's CAC 40 inched up less than 2 points to 6,526.13, while Germany's DAX fell 0.4 percent to 13,632.20.

Britain's FTSE 100 gained less than 0.1 percent to 7,489.68. The futures for the S and P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.2 percent higher.

In Asian trading, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 dipped nearly 0.9 percent to finish at 27,999.96.

Japan's technology investor SoftBank Group Corp. dropped more than 7 percent.

On Monday it reported a record quarterly loss of USD 23 billion.

A global nose-dive of technology-related issues, such as Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, has weighed on its sprawling portfolio of investments.

Australia's S and P/ASX 200 edged up 0.1 percent to 7,029.80. South Korea's Kospi edged 0.4 percent higher to 2,503.46.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng erased earlier gains, falling 0.2 percent to 20,003.44, while the Shanghai Composite edged up 0.3 percent to 3,247.43.

Analysts monitoring Asian markets said regional tensions remain a risk because of the flare-up between China and Taiwan after the recent visit of US House Speak Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.

China has said it's extending threatening military exercises surrounding Taiwan, disrupting shipping and air traffic and raising a notch of trade worries.

“It is worth keeping track of the geopolitical landscape as any major developments on the China/Taiwan front could impact overall risk demand. China confirmed it would extend military drills around Taiwan, and the military will conduct regular exercises on the eastern side of the median line of the Taiwan Strait,” said Anderson Alves at ActivTrades.

Also of concern are the rising cases of COVID-19 in China, Japan, and some other Asian nations, and their potential impact on supply chains that are a lifeline to some of the region's biggest manufacturers.

Technology stocks were the biggest drag on Monday on Wall Street. The S and P 500 slipped 0.1 percent to 4,140.06 and the Nasdaq shed 0.1 percent to 12,644.46.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 0.1 percent higher, at 32,832.54. The Russell 2000 rose 1 percent to 1,941.21.

It's a busy week as investors weigh whether the US Federal Reserve's efforts to cool the economy and quell inflation are working, or whether the central bank will continue aggressively raising interest rates.

Investors worry the Fed could hit the brakes too hard and cause a recession.

The Fed is expected to hike short-term interest rates by another 0.75 percentage points at its next meeting.

The US Labour Department will release its July report for consumer prices on Wednesday, followed by its report for prices at the wholesale level on Thursday.

Last week, reports showed the US employment market remains strong.

Investors are still reviewing the latest round of corporate earnings, which could also provide more details on how hard inflation is hitting consumers and businesses.

In energy trading, benchmark US crude fell from USD 1.37 to USD 89.39 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It added USD 1.89 to USD 90.76 a barrel on Monday.

Brent crude, the international standard for pricing crude, lost USD 1.41 to USD 95.24 a barrel.

In currency trading, the US dollar fell to 134.90 Japanese yen from 134.98 yen. The euro cost USD 1.0239, inching up from USD 1.0193.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)