Asia markets mixed after Wall Street rally pauses; South Korea’s Kospi hits over 2-year high

Asia-Pacific markets were mixed Tuesday as the U.S. market took a breather following a rally sparked by optimism over the Federal Reserve’s interest rate stance at its latest meeting.

Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, noted that equities have gotten expensive, with the S&P now trading at a 33% premium to its average price-to-earnings ratio over the last 20 years.

“We’re coming off of a post-FOMC high,” he told CNBC, referring to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting last week. “The market is getting more and more vulnerable to a market decline or a pullback in prices.”

Investors in Asia also await economic data out of Southeast Asia, including Singapore’s manufacturing output and Thailand’s trade balance. Japan’s service producer price index for February came in at 2.1%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was trading close to the flatline, while the broader Topix was up 0.1%.

South Korea’s Kospi added 1.14% to hit its highest level since February 2022. The smaller-cap Kosdaq edged 0.75% higher.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell marginally, after coming close to its all-time high on Monday.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed 0.86%, powered by energy and industrial stocks, while the mainland Chinese CSI 300 rose 0.36%.

Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes lost ground, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.41% and the S&P 500 dipping 0.31%, while the Nasdaq Composite was 0.27% lower.

— CNBC’s Lisa Kailai Han and Pia Singh contributed to this report