Asia markets open mixed as investors await key China data

Asia-Pacific markets are set to open higher on Tuesday as investors appear to look past U.S. President Donald Trump's on-again-off-again tariffs and await a slew of economic data releases out of China.

Investors are also awaiting a busy week for second-quarter earnings season from Wall Street, and a key inflation reading, after all three key benchmarks in the U.S. ended Monday's session higher.

Asia-Pacific markets open mixed

Asia-Pacific markets started the day mixed Tuesday.

As of 8.10 a.m. Singapore time (8.10 p.m. Monday ET), Japan's Nikkei 225 benchmark was flat while the broader Topix index added 0.32%.

In South Korea, the Kospi index was down 0.31% while the small-cap Kosdaq moved up 0.26%.

Over in Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 benchmark advanced 0.66%.

Here are the opening calls for the day

Good morning from Singapore.

Investors will be keeping a close watch on a slew of data points from China today, including its growth rate for the second quarter as well as urban investment and retail sales for June.

Economists polled by Reuters expect the Asian giant's economy to expand 5.1% in the April to June quarter, from 5.4% in the preceding quarter.

Meanwhile, separate polls by Reuters show that China's urban investments is forecast to have risen 3.6% between January and June, while its retail sales is expected to come in at 5.4% in June, compared to 6.4% the month before.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 was set to open higher, with the futures contract in Chicago at 39,560 while its counterpart in Osaka last traded at 39,510, against the index's Monday close of 39,459.62.

Futures for Hong Kong's Hang Seng index stood at 24,264, pointing to a stronger open compared to the HSI's last close of 24,203.32.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was also set to start the day higher with futures tied to the benchmark at 8,599, compared with its last close of 8,570.40.

Stock futures open little changed

U.S. stock futures opened little changed Monday night.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell by 27 points, or 0.06%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.04% and 0.03%, respectively.

Stocks end Monday slightly higher

The major stock averages ended Monday in the green.

The S&P 500 edged higher by 0.14%, finishing at 6,268.56, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.27% to settle at 20,640.33. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 88.14 points, or 0.20%, and ended at 44,459.65.