Australia

Australian shares are set to open lower, after US stocks were boosted by Fed Chair's speech.

ASX futures were down 0.38% or 32 points as of 8:00am on Tuesday, suggesting a lower open.

US stocks rose, adding to third-quarter gains, after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that the "baseline" scenario was that the central bank would cut rates by just 0.25 percentage point at each of its next two meetings

The S&P 500 rose 0.4%, ending the month up 2% and the quarter up 5.5%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also climbed 0.4%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average ticked up less than 0.1%.

In commodity markets, Brent crude oil was up 0.2% to US$71.77 a barrel, while gold was flat at US$2,633.58.

The Australian dollar was at 69.12 US cents, up from its previous close of 69.11.

Asia

Chinese shares closed higher. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index lifted 8.1% to 3,336.50, and the Shenzhen Composite Index surged 10.9% to 1,927.48.

Hong Kong shares ended higher. The benchmark Hang Seng Index gained 2.4% to 21,133.68.

Japanese shares closed lower. The Nikkei Stock Average fell 4.8% to 37,919.55.

India shares ended lower. The BSE SENSEX lost 1.5% to 84,299.78.

Europe

Stocks in the U.K. finished lower. The FTSE 100 Index slipped 1.0% to 8,236.95.

In Europe, shares closed mixed. Germany's DAX fell 0.8% to 19,324.93, and France's CAC 40 was flat at 7,635.75.

North America

U.S. stocks ended mixed. The DJIA was flat at 42,330.15, the S&P 500 rose 0.4% to 5,762.48, and the Nasdaq added 0.4% to 18,189.17.

Among S&P 500 companies, the top three gainers were Solventum Corp, surging 3.18%, Generac Holdings Inc jumped 2.64%, and Intuitive Surgical Inc lifted 2.57%.

The biggest decliners were Dollar Tree Inc which dropped 3.83%, Ulta Beauty Inc fell 3.69%, and General Motors Co lost 3.53%.