Asia markets inch higher as recovery weighed

BANGKOK — Asian markets were in a holding pattern Tuesday, mostly eking out modest gains as investors looked to quarterly earnings as a possible antidote to growing pessimism about a quick economic recovery.

Last week’s gloomy unemployment figures from the U.S. and Europe continued to dampen sentiment, keeping the brakes on the massive rally in world markets that began in early March on hopes the recession had run its course.

Oil languished near $64 after tumbling the day before, keeping a lid on commodity stocks.

There is only a thin schedule of data this week from the U.S., the world’s largest economy, but the start of the second-quarter earnings reporting season will provide some clues as to whether companies have already seen the worst of the recession. American aluminum maker Alcoa Inc. opens earnings season on Wednesday.

Trading volumes have been thin lately as investors ponder whether they read too much into signs the global economy was stabilizing, said Song Seng Wun, head of research at CIMB in Singapore.

“Now it’s a question of taking a step back and seeing to what extent we are getting sustainable growth,” he said. “Confidence could deteriorate further because of the worsening job market in the U.S.”

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 stock average was down 18.11 points, or 0.2 percent, at 9,662.76 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 117.67, or 0.7 percent, to 18,097.09. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.3 percent to 1,433.21.

Elsewhere, China’s Shanghai fell 0.2 percent and Singapore’s market advanced 0.9 percent.

India’s Sensex rose 0.7 percent after tumbling nearly 6 percent the day before on disappointment with a government budget that unveiled aggressive new spending to reduce poverty but lacked much anticipated business reforms.

Stocks edged higher Monday on Wall Street after the Institute for Supply Management said its services index rose in June from May, suggesting that recession in the nonmanufacturing parts of the economy was easing.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 44.13, or 0.5 percent, to 8,324.87, and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 2.30, or 0.3 percent, to 898.72. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 9.12, or 0.5 percent, to 1,787.40.

Stock futures pointed to small losses Tuesday on Wall Street. Dow futures dropped 7, or 0.1 percent, to 8,270 and S&P futures were down 0.8, or 0.1 percent, to 894.70.

Crude oil for August delivery was up 43 cents to $64.48 a barrel after tumbling 12 percent in the past week on doubts about the strength of any global economic recovery. On Monday, it fell $2.68 to settle at $64.05.

The dollar, meanwhile, rose to 95.35 yen from 95.20 late Monday in New York, and the euro edged higher to $1.3984 from $1.3973.