Asia markets set for mixed open ahead of China trade data

Asia-Pacific markets are set for a mixed open on Tuesday as investors focus on China’s trade data for July.

Economists polled by Reuters expect a steeper fall in exports in July, forecasting a 12.5% slide from a year earlier compared to June’s figure of a 12.4% drop.

Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 19,412, pointing to a weaker open compared to the HSI’s last close of 19,537.92.

In Australia, futures for the S&P/ASX 200 point to a lower open, at 7,275 compared to the last close of 7,309.2.

In contrast, Japan’s Nikkei 225 is set for a positive open, with the futures contract in Chicago at 32,435 and its counterpart in Osaka at 32,410 against the index’s last close of 32,254.56. Japan saw its household spending remain in negative territory for the fourth straight month, falling 4.2% year on year in June, steeper than the 4% in May.

Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes gained as investors continue to digest better-than-expected earnings results. Roughly 85% of S&P 500 stocks have reported quarterly results, and nearly 80% of them have beaten Wall Street’s expectations, according to FactSet.

The 30-stock Dow surged nearly 1.2%, for its best day since June 15. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite added 0.6%, and S&P 500 closed higher by 0.9%. Both the Nasdaq and the S&P500 broke four-straight sessions of losses.

— CNBC’s Brian Evans contributed to this report