Asian markets were mixed in morning trade on Wednesday as investors reacted to developments in U.S. politics that saw President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen plead guilty in federal court.
Australia’s ASX 200 fell 0.47 percent in morning trade, with sectors such as utilities and the heavily-weighted financials subindex trading lower. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 traded up by 0.15 percent while South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.14 percent.
The Greater China markets were in negative territory in early trade. The Hang Seng index was down by 0.49 percent while the Shanghai composite and Shenzhen composite were lower by 0.6 and 0.672 respectively.
U.S. futures fell on the back of the developments in American politics. The S&P e-mini futures were down 0.41 percent at 2,850 at 9:40 a.m. HK/SIN, indicating that Wall Street might potentially open lower in the next trading session.
Trump’s former personal lawyer Cohen pleaded guilty on eight counts related to tax fraud, excessive campaign contributions, making false statements to a financial institution, and unlawful corporate contributions at a court hearing in New York. He could face more than five years in prison.
Two of the counts that Cohen pleaded guilty to appear to relate to Trump directly. Cohen admitted on Tuesday to making payments to two women at the direction of an unidentified candidate for political office who appears to be the president. Those payments, Cohen said, were made to influence the outcome of the election.
While Cohen didn’t name Trump directly during the hearing, it was later confirmed by the Justice Department that the President was the unidentified candidate.
At the same time,Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was found guilty of eight criminal counts, including five counts of tax fraud. He was also found guilty of two counts of bank fraud and one count of failing to file foreign bank account reports.
Also in focus: U.S. and Chinese officials are set to begin a new round of talks in Washington today to find a resolution for the ongoing trade dispute between the two largest economies of the world. Trump is reportedly preparing to add more tariffs this week.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of currencies, traded at 95.211 at 9:43 a.m. HK/SIN. The Japanese yen traded at 110.18 against the dollar. The Australian dollar traded at $0.7354, climbing from an earlier low of $0.7349.
Oil prices lost some of their gains earlier in the Asian session with U.S. crude gaining 0.29 percent to $66.04 a barrel. Global benchmark Brent was up 0.14 percent at $72.73.
U.S. markets ended the day with yet another positive finish. The S&P 500 hit a new all-time high of 2,873.23 before paring some of its gains to close 0.21 percent up at 2,862.96. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 63.6 points up to close at 25,822.29 while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.49 percent to end the day at 7,859.17.
– CNBC’s Tucker Higgins, Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report
