Asian markets were mixed in quiet trading Wednesday, as investors’ recent enthusiasm was tempered by comments by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, while U.S. officials lowered expectations for the expected meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping at the G-20 meeting this week.
Japan’s Nikkei
NIK, -0.58%
fell 0.6% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index
HSI, +0.04%
was about flat. The Shanghai Composite
SHCOMP, -0.23%
dipped 0.2%, while the smaller-cap Shenzhen Composite
399106, +0.04%
gave up early gains. South Korea’s Kospi
180721, +0.07%
gained 0.2% and Taiwan’s Taiex
Y9999, -0.43%
retreated 0.3%. Benchmark indexes in Singapore
STI, -0.30%
and Indonesia
JAKIDX, +0.09%
were about flat, as was Australia’s S&P/ASX 200
XJO, -0.06%
.
Among individual stocks, SoftBank
9984, -1.63%
fell in Tokyo trading, as did Fast Retailing
9983, -1.38%
and Honda Motor
7267, -0.35%
. In Hong Kong, Sunny Optical
2382, +2.29%
and meat processor WH Group
288, +0.64%
gained while property companies, such as Sun Hung Kai
16, -1.57%
, fell. SK Hynix
000660, +3.45%
surged in South Korea while Taiwan Semiconductor
2330, -1.47%
slipped in Taiwan. Rio Tinto
RIO, +0.67%
rose slightly in Australia.
On Wall Street, discouraging economic data and cautionary remarks from the head of the Federal Reserve weighed on the market.
The sell-off marked the third straight loss for the market and the biggest drop this month for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index, which hit an all-time high only last week.
In an early afternoon speech, the Fed‘s Powell noted that the economic outlook has become cloudier since early May amid uncertainty over trade and global growth. Earlier Tuesday, reports showed a decline in consumer confidence and more weakness in the housing market.
The S&P 500 index
SPX, -0.95%
fell 27.97 points, or 1%, to 2,917.38. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA, -0.67%
dropped 179.32 points, or 0.7%, to 26,548.22. The Nasdaq composite
COMP, -1.51%
, which is heavily weighted with technology stocks, slid 120.98 points, or 1.5%, to 7,884.72.
Trade policy remains the biggest source of uncertainty looming over the market. Investors are worried about the trade dispute between the U.S. and China and its potential impact on global economic growth and corporate profits.
Trump and Xi will meet this week at the G-20. The world’s two largest economies spent much of the current quarter escalating their trade war and giving global markets jitters over prospects for economic growth.
“To a large extent, any further deterioration in trade relations is expected to guide expectations here so the focus remains up ahead with the G-20,” said Jingyi Pan, market strategist at IG in Singapore.
Reuters reported that the U.S. will not make concessions on tariffs to lure China back to trade negotiations. Citing a senior administration official, Reuters said hopes of a trade breakthrough this weekend are low, and the best-case scenario would be a freezing of new tariffs and a path toward future talks, with the hope of calming global financial markets.
Benchmark crude oil
CLQ19, +2.02%
rose $1.05 to $58.88 a barrel. It fell 7 cents to settle at $57.83 a barrel Tuesday. Brent crude oil
BRNQ19, +1.52%
, the international standard, rose 73 cents to $65.01 a barrel.
The dollar
USDJPY, +0.23%
rose slightly to 107.46 Japanese yen from 107.03 yen on Tuesday. .
Source : MTV
