Mixed trading in Asia; fresh data eyed

Asian markets were mostly mixed on Wednesday as traders looked ahead to a batch of fresh economic reports later in the session.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 closed in green territory at 22,620.5 points, adding 0.36 percent. Energy and technology names were among the best performing sectors. The broader Topix grew 0.15 percent.

Meanwhile, China’s Shanghai composite was lower 0.05 and the Shenzhen up 0.23 percent. By the time this writing, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng benchmark was 0.81 percent higher.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 gained 0.5 percent to close midweek session at 6,025.1 points. Resources and oil-related stocks pushed higher. Mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP added about two percent in average, while the country’s big banks turned lower.

South Korean markets remained close on Wednesday due to a national holiday.

In the United States, the Nasdaq composite ended at an all-time peak on Tuesday on the back of Netflix and Amazon, which rose 1.1 and 1.9 percent respectively. The benchmark closed at 7,637.86.

However, the other two indexes were not so lucky. The S&P 500 gained only 0.1 percent to 2,748.79, while the Dow Jones industrial average was down 13.71 points at 24,799.98.

Market sentiment remained under pressure in the light of increasing commercial tension between the United States and some key allies, such as Canada, Mexico and the European Union.

On Tuesday, White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow said President Trump was considering separate negotiations with Canada and Mexico, although it’s not clear how that plays for NAFTA.

Regarding the ongoing dispute between Washington and Beijing, the latest party has allegedly agreed to buy nearly $70 billion in US agriculture and energy production in return for lifting import tariffs.

Economic calendar:

United States: Q1 nonfarm productivity, unit labor costs and the trade balance for April are all coming together at 12:30 GMT.

FortFS