Several of the leading Asian stock exchanges started Tuesday's trading down in a situation where investors are worried that the Fed will slow down its interest rate cuts, while the geopolitical situation in the Middle East remains unpredictable.
On the Tokyo Stock Exchange, the key Nikkei 225 index had shrunk by 1.4 percent around lunch, while the broader Topix index had decreased by 1.1 percent.
The tone was also gloomy from South Korea's Kospi index, which fell by 1.1 percent.
Things were slightly more positive in Hong Kong, where the Hang Seng index rose by 0.3 percent.
The same cautious optimism could be seen in the composite indexes in Shanghai and Shenzhen, which increased by 0.3 and 0.4 percent, respectively.
