Asian stocks were narrowly mixed in early Wednesday trade following President Donald Trump’s announcement that the U.S. would pull out of the Iran nuclear deal.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 declined 0.38 percent, with financials and tech weighing on the index despite gains seen in the oil and mining sectors.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s benchmark Kospi was flat while the junior Kosdaq gained 1.05 percent in early morning trade.
Down Under, the S&P/ASX 200 tacked on 0.22 percent as declines in the heavily weighted financials subindex were offset by gains seen in most other sectors. The energy subindex rose 0.92 percent in early trade as oil producers advanced, with Woodside Petroleum up 1 percent.
Trump on Tuesday delivered on a pledge made during his election campaign to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 Iran agreement, announcing that broad sanctions would be reimposed on the country.
The landmark accord, which European nations including Germany and France are also party to, lifted international sanctions on Iran in exchange for the country curbing its nuclear program. Iran says it will stay committed to the agreement and will continue negotiating with other parties to the deal, Reuters reported.
Oil gained on Wednesday after declining in the last session, although they settled above their session lows on Tuesday following Trump’s announcement. Analysts said the decision had mostly been priced in by markets beforehand, with oil prices recently buoyed by concerns over the impact that renewed U.S. sanctions on Iran would have on the latter’s oil exports.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate rose 1.71 percent to trade at $70.24 per barrel. U.S. crude futures had crossed the $70 level for the first time since end-2014 on Monday. Brent crude futures were up 1.83 percent at $76.22.
The mixed performance in Asia also came on the back of U.S. stocks finishing little changed on the back of Trump’s announcement, with the Dow Jones industrial average closing up 0.01 percent and the S&P 500 ending lower by 0.03 percent.
Corporates in the region that are slated to release full-year results on Wednesday include Toyota, SoftBank Group and Mitsubishi Motors. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing and South Korea’s AmorePacific will announce first-quarter earnings later in the day.
In currencies, the dollar firmed against a basket of currencies in the last session. The dollar index traded at 93.043 at 8:02 a.m. HK/SIN after rising to its strongest level in 2018 on Tuesday.
Against the yen, the dollar was mostly steady, trading at 109.01.
The Australian dollar, meanwhile, slipped to trade at $0.7440 amid broad strength in the dollar and softer commodity prices overnight.
The economic calendar for Wednesday is relatively light on data (all times in HK/SIN):
- 8:30 a.m.: Australia Westpac consumer confidence index
- 9:00 a.m.: Philippines trade data
