Asian share markets are mostly lower after a lackluster day of trading on Wall Street.
Mixed signals on the progress of China-US trade talks also revived caution in Chinese markets. The Shanghai Composite lost 1 per cent to 3,059.17 in early trading Wednesday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.5 per cent to 29,318.53. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index edged 0.1 per cent higher to 21,577.82, while the S&P ASX 200 gave up 0.1 per cent to 6,177.50.
South Korea’s Kospi sank 1.1 per cent to 2,154.23. Shares were higher in Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia but fell in Singapore, reports AP.
US stock indexes closed mostly lower Tuesday after a late-afternoon splash of selling erased early gains, ending a weeklong rally.
Banks accounted for much of the decline, along with utilities and industrial companies. Those losses offset gains in health care, technology and consumer products stocks.
The benchmark S&P 500 ended barely lower, losing less than one point to 2,832.57, its second loss over the past seven trading days. It’s still up 13 per cent so far in 2019.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.1 per cent to 25,887.38. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.1 per cent to 7,723.95, while the Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks gave up 0.6 per cent, to 1,554.99.
More stocks fell than rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Major indexes in Europe finished higher.
The dollar rose to 111.59 Japanese yen from 111.40 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1346 from $1.1351 on Tuesday.
Benchmark US crude oil lost 16 cents to $59.13 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gave up 9 cents to close at $59.29 a barrel on Tuesday.
Brent crude, the international standard, slipped 3 cents to $67.58 a barrel.