Asian shares fall as South Korea’s Kospi drops 3.29%

Asian stock markets opened lower on Tuesday, with South Korea’s Kospi falling 3.29%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 1.20%, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.33%; Japan’s Topix was flat.

Investors were preparing for results from major US banks JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Wells Fargo, as well as health insurer UnitedHealth.

These early earnings may shape views of the wider US reporting season, with analysts expecting S&P 500 companies’ profits to rise nearly 30% from a year earlier.

Investors are watching banks for signs about the health of consumers and businesses, alongside technology companies’ ability to make money from AI and energy firms’ profits from oil prices.

US existing-home sales and comments from Federal Reserve officials were also due on Tuesday, with September inflation data expected later in the week.

That inflation data could affect US Treasury yields, which have recently reached their highest levels in decades.