The Nasdaq powered to its second straight daily record on Tuesday but elsewhere on Wall Street stocks retreated, with the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average closing lower.

The tech-rich Nasdaq reached its latest all-time high of 9,953.75 at the closing bell, a gain of 0.3 per cent, but the Dow benchmark index was down 1.1 per cent at 27,272.30, while the broad-based S&P 500 retreated 0.8 per cent to 3,207.18.

The mixed trading outcome came as the Federal Reserve's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) began its two-day meeting, but analysts expected few big changes as the coronavirus pandemic rages on.

The coronavirus crisis will lead the airline industry into record annual losses of US$84 billion as 2020 goes down as the "worst year in the history of aviation", the sector's main global body predicted on Tuesday.

Tiffany & Co, which is being bought by France's LVMH for US$16 billion, said on Tuesday it had amended some of its debt agreements to bolster its liquidity amid the coronavirus pandemic after its quarterly sales sank 44 per cent.

Hyflux’s investor Aqua Munda is prepared to make an offer to the preference shares and perpetual securities (PnP) holders of Hyflux, the Securities Investors Association (Singapore) or Sias has said.

Consumer’s electronics retailer Challenger Technologies on Tuesday said the "substantial increase" in online orders during the "circuit breaker" period has been unable to offset the impact from the closure of its physical stores amid the restrictions.

AEM Holdings on Tuesday announced that Leong Sook Han will be its chief financial officer (CFO) from June 15. With over 20 years of experience in finance management, she is expected to strengthen AEM’s financial management and reporting capabilities, as the group strives for global leadership in advanced test solutions, said AEM, which provides advanced chip-testing solutions for semiconductor and electronics companies.

Hong Kong's status as a global financial hub is important not only to China but the rest of the world, a senior International Monetary Fund (IMF) official said on Tuesday as the Chinese territory faced renewed pro-democracy unrest.

Source: SGX Masnet, The Business Times, Bloomberg, Channel NewsAsia, Reuters, PSR