Asian markets barring Australia gain as RBA keeps rates steady at 1.5%

Most Asian stock market indices were trading higher on Tuesday (6 September) with the Shanghai Composite Index up 0.48% at 3,086.75 as of 5.53am GMT, following the Reserve Bank of Australia deciding to keep its cash rates steady at 1.5%.

Australia's central bank said its decision was based on factors such as continued growth, low inflation, commodity prices and mixed labour market data. The rise in the Asian markets also follows world leaders agreeing at the G20 summit to coordinate macroeconomic policies.

Angus Nicholson, market analyst at IG, opined that the Asian markets were seeing an uptick amid better than expected post-Brexit UK data. "With US markets closed yesterday (5 September), trade was primarily driven by Europe and the post-Brexit UK economic data ... [which] has consistently beat market consensus expectations as many different data sets seem to be recovering after the initial shock directly after the Brexit vote," Nicholson was quoted as saying by CNBC.

For instance, on Monday, the Markit/CIPS purchasing managers' index (PMI) showed activity in UK services recorded the biggest month-on-month rise in August. Markit's chief economist Chris Williamson said the record rise in the services PMI added to the encouraging data in the manufacturing and construction sectors in August to suggest that the UK will avoid an imminent recession.

Indices in the region were trading as follows at 6.11am GMT

Overnight (5 September), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was closed amid the Labor Day public holiday , while the FTSE 100 closed at 6,879.42, down 0.22%.

Among commodities, oil prices gained after Russia and Saudi Arabia agreed to discuss ways that would help stabilise global crude supplies. While WTI crude oil was trading higher by 1.96% at $45.31 (£34.01) a barrel, Brent crude was 0.29% higher at $47.77 a barrel as of 6.18am GMT.