Global markets were lower Tuesday morning after the release of data that showed a decline in manufacturing activity in the United States.
At the start of the session in Europe, the British FTSE 100 slipped by 0.5%, the French CAC 40 by 0.9% and the German DAX by 1.2%.
In New York, before the markets opened, the Dow Jones industrial average and the broader S&P 500 index lost 0.5%.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.2% in Tokyo. The Shanghai stock exchange added 0.4% and the Hang Seng added 0.2% in Hong Kong. Sydney lost 0.3% and Seoul 0.8%.
Indian markets closed sharply lower on Tuesday as early counts showed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party faced a tighter race than expected. India’s benchmark stock indices, the NIFTY 50 and the BSE Sensex, had hit new highs by the end of the day on Monday, but fell sharply on Tuesday when the first poll numbers began to be released. They recovered slightly to close each down more than 5%.
On the New York Commodity Exchange, the price of oil dropped US$1.53 to US$72.69 per barrel.
On the currency market on Monday, the Canadian dollar traded at 73.34 US cents, up slightly from 73.33 US cents on Friday.