Asian Markets Trade Mostly Lower

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Wednesday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders are cautious and reluctant to take positions ahead of the next week's U.S. presidential election and the US Fed's monetary policy decision. Concern about the tension in the Middle East is also weighing on the markets. Asian markets closed mostly higher on Tuesday.

Traders also looked ahead to a slew of U.S. economic data as well as tech megacap earnings for directional cues.

Australian shares are trading modestly lower on Wednesday, giving up some of the gains in the previous three sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 8,200 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness in energy and financial stocks partially offset by gains in iron ore miners. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 64.30 points or 0.78 percent to 8,184.90, after hitting a low of 8,182.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 61.80 points or 0.73 percent to 8,444.10. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto and Mineral Resources are rising almost 1 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is adding more than 1 percent and BHP Group is gaining 1.5 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Origin Energy and Woodside Energy are edging down 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Beach energy is losing more than 1 percent and Santos is down almost 1 percent. In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 1 percent, Zip is declining almost 1 percent and Xero is edging down 0.1 percent, while Appen is surging almost 6 percent and WiseTech Global is edging up 0.4 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking are losing almost 1 percent each, while Westpac is edging down 0.3 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are advancing more than 1 percent each, while Gold Road Resources is edging up 0.4 percent. Newmont is losing almost 2 percent and Resolute Mining is down almost 1 percent.

In economic news, consumer prices in Australia were up a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent on quarter in the third quarter of 2024, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday. That was shy of expectations for an increase of 0.3 percent and down from 1.0 percent in the previous three months.

On an annualized basis, inflation climbed 2.8 percent - exceeding forecasts for 2.3 percent and down from 3.8 percent in the second quarter. The trimmed mean was up 0.8 percent on quarter and 3.5 percent on year, while the weighted mean was up 0.9 percent on quarter and 3.8 percent on year.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.656 on Wednesday.

The Japanese stock market is trading significantly higher on Wednesday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving up to be a tad below the 39,300 level, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights, financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at the day's high of 39,390.49, up 486.81 points or 1.25 percent. Japanese stocks ended notably higher on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining more than 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is flat. Among automakers, Honda is edging down 0.2 percent, while Toyota is gaining almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is advancing almost 3 percent, Tokyo Electron is adding almost 1 percent and Screen Holdings are gaining more than 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are edging up 0.5 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is flat.

Among the major exporters, Sony is gaining almost 2 percent and Panasonic is edging up 0.2 percent, while Mitsubishi Electric and Canon are adding almost 1 percent each.

Among other major gainers, Disco is skyrocketing almost 11 percent and Fujikura is surging more than 5 percent, while Lasertech, Keyence and Tokyo Electric Power are gaining more than 4 percent each. Furukawa Electric, Kansai Electric Power, Nikon, Renesas Electronics and SMC are adding more than 3 percent each, while Chubu Electric Power, Hoya, Toppan Holdings and Daiichi Sankyo are up almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Hino Motors is plummeting more than 11 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 153 yen-range on Wednesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia and Indonesia are lower by between 0.1 and 1.0 percent each. Taiwan is bucking the trend and is up 0.3 percent. On the Wall Street, stocks moved higher during trading on Monday but returned to the mixed performance seen to close out the previous week on Tuesday. While the tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a notable advance to reach a new record closing high, the Dow closed lower for the sixth time in the past seven sessions.

The Nasdaq climbed 145.56 points or 0.8 percent to 18,712.75, extending its winning streak to four days. The S&P 500 also rose 9.40 points or 0.2 percent to 5,832.92, but the Dow fell 154.52 points or 0.4 percent to 42,233.05.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid 0.8 percent, the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.6 percent and the German DAX Index dipped by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices settled lower again on Tuesday amid concerns crude supplies will far exceed near term demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended down $0.17 or about 0.25 percent at $67.21 a barrel.