Asia-Pacific markets are mixed on Tuesday with a vote looming ahead on the tentative U.S. debt ceiling deal reached between President Joe Biden and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy over the weekend, avoiding a default for the U.S. economy.
The U.S. Congress is set to vote on the legislation as early as Wednesday. Lawmakers have not signaled that they intended to return to Capitol Hill early to work on the deal. Both Republican and Democratic support is needed for the bill agreement to pass.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 closed 0.30% higher at 31,328.16 to continue hitting its highest levels in 33 years, but the Topix fell marginally to end at 2,159.22. Japan saw its unemployment rate come down slightly to 2.6% in April from 2.8% in March.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 inched down 0.11% to close at 7,209.3, snapping a three-day winning streak.
South Korea's Kospi returned from a public holiday and climbed 1.04% to close at 2,585.52, its highest level in almost a year, while the Kosdaq saw a gain of 0.98% to end at 851.5.
Mainland Chinese markets ended higher on Tuesday, with the Shanghai Composite marginally higher at 3,224.21 and the Shenzhen Component up by 0.44% to end at 10,869.55 and rebound from its lowest level since November 2022.
Hong Kong stocks snapped a four day losing streak as the Hang Seng Index rose 0.1% in its final hour of tradeand the Hang Seng Tech index saw a bigger gain of 1.24%.
U.S. markets were closed on Monday for Memorial Day, but futures rose as investors further digested the deal tentatively struck over the weekend — some considering it a "market opportunity."
Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 72 points, or 0.2%, while S&P 500 futures gained 0.3%. Nasdaq-100 futures climbed 0.5%.
— CNBC's Brian Evans contributed to this report