Asian equity markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday due to selling pressure amid rising geopolitical tensions after US President Donald Trump warned that further threats from North Korea would be ‘met with fire and fury’. In response, North Korea said it was ‘carefully examining’ a plan to launch a missile strike on a US Naval Base in the Pacific. Japanese shares hit 2-1/2-month lows as the yen hit an eight-week high against the dollar and saw broad gains against other peers amid the latest bout of geopolitical tensions stemming from the Korean Peninsula. Further, Chinese shares ended lower amid concerns that regulators will continue to clamp down on debt risks, but strong gains in consumer staples left major indexes only slightly lower on the day. Consumer prices in China rose an annual 1.4 percent in July, the National Bureau of Statistics said today. That was shy of expectations for 1.5 percent, which would have been unchanged from the June reading. The bureau also said that producer prices advanced an annual 5.5 percent, missing forecasts for 5.6 percent which also would have been unchanged. Meanwhile, the Singapore market was closed for the National Day public holiday.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,275.57 | -6.30 | -0.19 |
Hang Seng | 27,757.09 | -97.82 | -0.35 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,824.01 | 13.44 | 0.23 |
KLSE Composite | 1,777.94 | -3.71 | -0.21 |
Nikkei 225 | 19,738.71 | -257.30 | -1.29 |
Straits Times | - | - | - |
KOSPI Composite | 2,368.39 | -26.34 | -1.10 |
Taiwan Weighted | 10,470.38 | -98.59 | -0.93 |