SINGAPORE - Stocks edged lower at the start of Asian trade on Tuesday and oil prices stabilized after the previous session's tumble, with ‌investors on edge ahead of the start of voting for the US midterm elections.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.9 percent, led by a decline of as much as 3.8 percent in Korean shares. S&P 500 e-mini futures edged up 0.1 percent, while Japanese markets are closed for a holiday.

"Tuesday will be nothing more than the day ahead of a much bigger ​day," ING analysts wrote in a note. By Wednesday, the market will have guidance on the midterm implications and the US Treasury's quarterly refunding announcement, they ​wrote. The yield on the US 10-year Treasury bond was up 2.1 basis points at 4.913 percent.

Overnight, stocks on Wall Street edged ⁠lower, with the S&P 500 slipping 0.5 percent as tech sector earnings weighed on investor confidence, even as data showed US manufacturing activity picked up in October amid ​strong domestic demand.

Apple shares extended losses, falling 2.8 percent in after-hours trading after the iPhone maker on Monday forecast lower gross margins for the crucial holiday quarter, citing rising ​memory-chip costs, and projected services revenue growth that fell well short of Wall Street expectations.

Investors are also preparing to vote in the US midterm elections, where President Donald Trump's Republican Party is facing a challenge to keep its hold on Congress.

Crude stabilises

Oil prices steadied after a fall, with Brent crude fluctuating between gains and losses and last 0.1 percent lower at $104.72.

Crude prices fell more than 7 percent on ​Monday. "Oil prices fell sharply as renewed hopes for US-Iran diplomacy saw some geopolitical risk premium unwind," Westpac analysts wrote.

In Asia-Pacific, Australian shares were up 0.1 percent and the Aussie dollar ​held steady at $0.70 ahead of the latest decision from the Reserve Bank of Australia, at which the central bank is widely ​expected to hike ⁠its cash rate target by 25 basis points to a near two-decade high of 4.85 percent from the current 4.6 percent.

The US ​dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, edged up 0.1 percent to 101.81, recovering from a one-month low after slipping 0.2 percent on Monday.

Cryptocurrencies remained choppy after last week's Binance ​hack, as customers withdrew a net $4.72 billion of funds. Bitcoin crawled 0.5 percent higher to $77,112.18 and ether nudged 0.1 percent lower to $2,253.59.