Asia-Pacific markets climb with China's central bank in focus; S&P and Dow set fresh records

Asia-Pacific markets climbed on Tuesday, tracking gains on Wall Street after the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average touched new closing highs in Monday’s trading session.

The broad market index added 0.28% to end at 5,718.57, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 61.29 points, or 0.15%, to close at 42,124.65.

Traders in Asia will look toward a rare briefing by the People’s Bank of China, after authorities announced that PBOC Governor Pan Gongsheng will hold a press conference at 9 a.m. on “financial support for high-quality economic development.”

The briefing is set to begin before Chinese markets open at 9:30 a.m. Currently, futures for the mainland Chinese CSI 300 are at 3,205.6, slightly lower than its last close of 3,212.76.

Australia’s central bank will also announce its rate decision on Tuesday, with economists polled by Reuters expecting the RBA to hold rates at 4.35%.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia said in a note last week that the economic data flow since the last meeting “has either been softer or in line with the RBA’s expectations.” As such, CBA expects a slightly less hawkish statement, but does not see a material shift in language or tone. 

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose marginally ahead of the RBA decision.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was 1.47% higher, while the Topix gained 1% as Japanese markets returned from a holiday. This marks the first time that the Nikkei has crossed the 38,000 mark since Sept. 3.

South Korea’s Kospi was 0.6% up, while the small-cap Kosdaq rose 0.68%.

Hong Kong Hang Seng index futures were at 18,462, higher than the HSI’s last close of 18,247.11.

Overnight in the U.S., the Nasdaq Composite ticked up 0.14%, also mirroring gains made by the other two major U.S. indexes.

—CNBC’s Brian Evans and Alex Harring contributed to this report.