Global stocks mostly lower as investors await US tariff hike

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Chinese investors play cards near an electronic display showing stock prices at a brokerage house in Beijing, Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2018. Asian stocks were mixed Tuesday after Wall Street's gains as investors waited for a new U.S. tariff hike in a trade battle with China. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Major global stock markets were mostly lower Tuesday as investors waited for a new U.S. tariff hike in a trade battle with China.

KEEPING SCORE: In Europe, Germany's DAX lost 0.7 percent to 11,906 and London's FTSE 100 fell 0.7 percent to 7,229. France's CAC 40 shed 0.4 percent to 5,250. On Wall Street, futures for the Standard & Poor's 500 index were down 0.3 percent and those for the Dow Jones industrial average were 0.4 percent lower.

ASIA'S DAY: The Shanghai Composite Index retreated 0.2 percent to 2,664.80 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.7 percent to 26,422.55. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 advanced 1.3 percent to 22,664.69 while Seoul's Kospi declined 0.2 percent to 2,283.20. Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 added 0.6 percent to 6,179.70 and India's Sensex shed 0.4 percent to 37,764.80. Benchmarks in Taiwan and New Zealand gained while Southeast Asian markets declined.

TRADE TENSIONS: The Trump administration is due to announce a decision shortly on whether to go ahead with 25 percent tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese imports in a dispute over Beijing's technology policy. The two sides already have raised duties on $50 billion of each other's goods. Trump said Friday that he was considering extending penalties to extending penalties to nearly all Chinese imports to the United States by raising duties on an additional $267 billion of goods.

ANALYST'S TAKE: "The protracted expectation for more bad news to set in with the looming tariffs remains the most important factor weighing on markets currently," Jinyi Pan of IG said in a report.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude gained 12 cents to $67.66 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract lost 21 cents on Monday to close at $67.54. Brent crude, used to price international oils, advanced 49 cents to $77.86 in London. It rose 54 cents the previous session to $77.37.

CURRENCY: The dollar gained to 111.35 yen from Monday's 111.12. The euro edged down to $1.1572 from $1.1595.