Asian Markets Trade Mixed

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mixed on Wednesday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders react to signs of escalating geopolitical tensions in Europe and the Middle East. The softer-than-expected U.S. retail sales data reinforced bets of imminent interest rate cuts by the US Fed. Asian markets closed mostly higher on Tuesday.

Australian shares are trading slightly lower on Wednesday after opening in the green, giving up some of the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying below the 7,800 level, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness in technology stocks partially offset by gains in mining and energy stocks amid spiking commodity prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 3.90 points or 0.05 percent to 7,774.20, after hitting a low of 7,768.00 and high of 7,787.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 2.60 points or 0.03 percent to 8,013.20. Australian stocks ended significantly higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is edging up 0.5 percent and Fortescue Metals is gaining almost 2 percent, while Mineral Resources is edging down 0.1 percent. BHP Group is flat.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is gaining almost 1 percent, Woodside Energy is adding 1.5 percent and Origin Energy is edging up 0.2 percent, while Beach energy is declining almost 3 percent. In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 1 percent and Zip is declining almost 3 percent, while WiseTech Global is gaining almost 1 percent and Appen is edging up 0.4 percent. Xero are flat. Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Westpac is edging up 0.2 percent. ANZ Banking is flat.

Among gold miners, Newmont and Northern Star Resources are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Gold Road Resources, Evolution Mining and Resolute Mining are adding more than 1 percent each. In other news, shares in Helia Group are plunging 9 percent to $3.56 after Commonwealth Bank of Australia flagged potential changes to the companies' existing lenders mortgage insurance contract.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.667 on Wednesday.

The Japanese stock market is significantly higher on Wednesday, extending the gains in the previous session, despite following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is moving well above the 38,700 level, with gains across most sectors led by index heavyweights and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 38,707.21, up 225.10 points or 0.58 percent, after touching a high of 38,797.97 earlier. Japanese stocks ended significantly higher on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is gaining almost 4 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.3 percent and Toyota is gaining more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is gaining 3.5 percent, while Tokyo Electron is declining almost 1 percent and Screen Holdings is slipping more than 3 percent.

In the banking sector, Mizuho Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is gaining more than 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Canon, Sony and Panasonic are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Mitsubishi Electric is losing almost 1 percent.

Among other major gainers, Mitsubishi Motors is soaring almost 9 percent, Sumitomo Pharma is surging almost 5 percent, Nidec is adding more than 4 percent and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is up almost 4 percent, while TDK and Tokio Marine are gaining more than 3 percent. Mazda Motor, Mitsubishi Chemical, East Japan Railway, Nitto Denko and Obayashi are advancing almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Trend Micro, Shiseido and Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings are losing almost 3 percent each.

In economic news, the Bank of Japan will on Wednesday release the minutes from its monetary policy meeting on April 25-26. At the meeting, the central bank left its key interest rate unchanged near zero and the bank's latest projections showed the underlying inflation staying around 2 percent that further damped expectations for aggressive tightening in future.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 157 yen-range on Wednesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan are up 2.2 and 1.8 percent, respectively. Singapore and South Korea are up 0.3 and 1.0 percent, respectively. New Zealand, China and Malaysia are lower by between 0.1 and 0.6 percent each. Indonesia is relatively flat. On the Wall Street, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Tuesday following the strong upward move seen over the course of the previous session. Despite the choppy trading, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq once again reached new record closing highs.

The major averages all finished the day modestly higher. The S&P 500 climbed 13.80 points or 0.2 percent to 5,487.03, the Dow rose 56.76 points or 0.2 percent to 38,834.86 and the Nasdaq inched up 5.21 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 17,862.23.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.8 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.6 percent and the German DAX Index increased by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed to near 7-week highs on Tuesday amid expectations of high summer demand for the commodity and continued production cuts by OPEC and allies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended up by $1.24 or about 1.54% at $81.57 a barrel, the highest settlement in nearly seven weeks.