Asia Stocks, S&P Futures, Trading Higher

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Asian shares, together with the S&P 500 futures, are trading slightly above the break-even line. The Japanese Nikkei index remains closed in Tuesday trade, something that is reflected in the overall market that has very light Asian based trading volume. The overnight global session has seen Korea's Kospi Index advance 1.2%, after the Korean economy was upgraded to developing from emerging by FTSE.

Even though most Asian stock markets headed higher, the S&P/ASX and the PSE Composite indexes were trading slightly in the red. The Australian S&P/ASX declined for a second day in Tuesday trade, affected by the selling going on in the commodity market.

European and U.S.-based futures markets are indicating a green start to Tuesday trade, and that is backed by a weaker dollar index (76.70), and a commodity market that has found good support at the current levels.

Sector Moves: Mining stocks are helping to lead the declines in the Australian S&P/ASX index. BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company, lost more than 2%, while Rio Tinto(RTP Quote), the third largest mining company in the world, had declines of 3.4%. In Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index most sectors posted small gains after China's sovereign fund bought a 15% stake in Noble Group, a commodity company.

Economic Moves: The economic calendar houses two red flag releases: At 8:30 a.m. EDT there is the Canadian Core Retail Salesn Exp.0.1% Pre.1.0%, and New Zealand 6:45 p.m. EDT gross domestic product Exp.-0.2% Pre.-1.0%. Ahead of Wednesday's interest rate decision and statement from the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee the market has very little macroeconomic data to work with.