Asian markets were mixed in early trading Wednesday, surrendering early gains, after the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at all-time highs.
Japan’s Nikkei
was about flat after initially rising about 0.4%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index
and the Shanghai Composite
also gave up initial gains and were last in the red. South Korea’s Kospi
was down about 1%, while benchmark indexes in Taiwan
and Singapore
were up slightly. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200
was up almost 1%, touching a nearly 10-year high in intraday trading.
Among individual stocks, Rakuten
and Fast Retailing
gained in Tokyo trading, while Nissan
retreated. In Hong Kong, real estate companies such as China Resources Land
and Country Garden
rose, while oil producer CNOOC
and telecom China Mobile
declined. Samsung
fell in South Korea. National Australia Bank
and Westpac Banking
advanced in Australia.
On Wall Street on Tuesday, The S&P 500
and Nasdaq
closed at record highs Tuesday as investors cheered the latest batch of solid corporate earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average
closed less than 1% from a record high.
Oil prices closed Tuesday at their highest level since October, but West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery
and June Brent crude
, the global benchmark slipped in Wednesday futures trading.
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