Asia stocks flat, oil retreats

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Asian stock markets were little changed Tuesday after Wall Street closed nearly flat amid little market-moving news.

Amid little market-moving news, oil was in focus after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries announced Monday that oil ministers of the 14-nation organization will meet next month, well ahead of their previously scheduled November meeting.

ANALYST'S TAKE: News that OPEC would be having a September meeting with certain members keen to push for supply cuts again served as the impetus for oil prices to rally.

While a deal is highly unlikely to eventuate, the fact that it is even being mentioned shows how much difficulty the past month's renewed sell-off was causing many struggling OPEC members, Angus Nicholson, a market analyst at IG in Melbourne, Australia, said in a daily commentary.

U.S. stock markets finished nearly unchanged on Monday, hovering just below the record highs they set late last week.