Asia markets were mixed on Wednesday morning, following the White House’s restatement of its tough stance on trade.
The Nikkei 225 made a partial recovery but remained down by 0.2 percent in the morning, while the Topix index slipped by 0.69 percent.
Down Under, however, the ASX 200 rose 0.21 percent in the morning, with major miner Rio Tinto advancing by 1.1 percent while BHP Billiton traded higher by 1.25 percent.
In Greater China markets, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed about 0.5 percent in the early hours of trading. The Shanghai composite was higher by 0.13 percent while the Shenzhen composite was slightly lower.
South Korean markets are closed for a public holiday.
In market action on Wall Street overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined by 69.84 points to 26,492.21 while the S&P 500 ended the trading day 0.1 percent lower at 2,915.56. The Nasdaq Composite, however, saw a gain of 0.2 percent to 8,007.47 on the back of advances in Amazon and Apple shares.
On Tuesday, U.S President Donald Trump reiterated his administration’s stance on trade, telling the United Nations General Assembly that his country would “no longer tolerate abuse” on that front.
Trump’s statement came after U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said his country was ready to move ahead on a trade deal with Mexico even if it excluded Canada, as negotiations with Ontario remained at an impasse. “We’re not going to say ‘no deal because of Canada.’ That doesn’t make any sense at all,” he told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
In currency news, the U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, was at 94.184 as of 9:41 a.m. HK/SIN, off yesterday’s lows.
The Japanese yen traded largely flat at 112.93 against the dollar, while the Australian dollar saw gains of 0.32 percent at $0.7273, as of 9:44 a.m. HK/SIN.
In oil markets, prices saw a partial recovery but remained lower in the morning hours of Asian trade. The global benchmark Brent crude futures slid by 0.24 percent to $81.67 per barrel while U.S. crude futures fell 0.36 percent to $72.02 per barrel.
On Tuesday, Trump told the U.N. General Assembly that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is “ripping off the rest of the world.”
