Asian equity markets ended mixed on Wednesday as the World Bank cut its global growth forecasts and Chinese trade data came in mixed, with a weaker-than-expected result for May exports and a much slower than expected drop in imports. The World Bank downgraded its 2016 global growth forecast to 2.4 percent from the 2.9 percent pace projected in January, citing sluggish growth in advanced economies, stubbornly low commodity prices, weak global trade, and diminishing capital flows. Meanwhile, oil hovered near eight-month highs and copper pared losses from the previous session on dollar weakness. Chinese shares closed a tad lower ahead of a long holiday and next week's MSCI announcement of the nation's yuan-denominated shares' inclusion into its global indexes. Investors also looked ahead to the release of inflation, industrial profits and new yuan loan data due in coming days. Mainland Chinese markets will be closed on Thursday and Friday for the Dragon Boat Festival while Hong Kong's market will only be closed on Thursday. Japanese shares ended a choppy session higher as the yen trimmed its early gains and energy shares benefited from higher oil prices.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2,927.16 | -8.89 | -0.30 |
Hang Seng | 21,297.88 | -30.36 | -0.14 |
Jakarta Composite | 4,916.06 | -17.93 | -0.36 |
KLSE Composite | 1,657.85 | -2.77 | -0.17 |
Nikkei 225 | 16,830.92 | 155.47 | 0.93 |
Straits Times | 2,862.38 | 14.29 | 0.50 |
KOSPI Composite | 2,027.08 | 15.45 | 0.77 |
Taiwan Weighted | 8,715.48 | 35.58 | 0.41 |