Asia markets traded in mixed territory on Wednesday morning after Wall Street extended gains overnight — with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 hitting another record high — as trade fears eased.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up by 0.42 percent in morning trade, with the shipping sector continuing its move upward by 2.52 percent. South Korea’s Kospi traded up as well by 0.15 percent.
The ASX 200 was up 0.31 percent after trading largely flat earlier. Construction materials and building products supplier Boral’s stock surged upward by 8.26 percent on the back of news that its full year net profit rose 48.5 percent to A$441 million ($324 million).
The Greater China markets were in negative territory during the early hours of their trading day. The Shanghai composite fell by 0.2 percent to trade at 2772.78. The Shenzhen composite dropped by around 0.55 percent to trade at 1489.6. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index traded by about 0.12 percent higher, even though information technology sector fell by around 0.26 percent.
Overnight, the S&P 500 extended its gains to close at another record high of 2,897.52 after crossing the 2,900 mark earlier in the day for the first time. The Nasdaq Composite, which also saw another all-time high and rose 0.1 percent to 8,030.04. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 14.38 points to 26,064.02.
The moves stateside came as Canada’s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland traveled to Washington on Tuesday to resume negotiations about the future of NAFTA, a day after the U.S. and Mexico announced that they had agreed to a new trade deal.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, was largely flat at 94.777 as of 9:53 a.m. HK/SIN.
The Japanese yen remained largely flat against the dollar at 111.22 yen while the Australian dollar traded at $0.7339 at 9:54 a.m. HK/SIN.
In the oil markets, global benchmark brent crude futures traded near flat at $75.99 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures was at $68.58 a barrel.
Here is a look at the day ahead:
- Singapore – July trade data at 1:00 p.m. HK/SIN
- Turkey – July trade data; economic confidence at 3:00 p.m. HK/SIN
– Reuters contributed to this report.
