Asian markets settled mostly higher on Wednesday tracking Wall Street gains overnight due to signs of cooling inflation in the United States. Softer producer prices data fuelled bets that the US Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates soon, while investors are awaiting the US CPI report due later in the day. Japanese shares advanced and the yen stabilized after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made the surprise announcement that he would not run for re-election, paving the way for Japan to have a new leader in September. However, Chinese shares declined ahead of key retail sales, home prices and industrial production data on Thursday that might show the economy is still faltering. Meanwhile, New Zealand shares rallied sharply after the country's central bank slashed its benchmark rate for the first time since March 2020 and flagged more interest rate cuts over coming months.
| Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
| Shanghai Composite | 2,850.65 | -17.30 | -0.61 |
| Hang Seng | 17,113.36 | -60.70 | -0.35 |
| Jakarta Composite | 7,436.04 | 79.40 | 1.07 |
| KLSE Composite | 1,612.35 | 2.83 | 0.18 |
| Nikkei 225 | 36,442.43 | 209.92 | 0.58 |
| Straits Times | 3,286.28 | 27.71 | 0.84 |
| KOSPI Composite | 2,644.50 | 23.00 | 0.87 |
| Taiwan Weighted | 22,027.25 | 230.68 | 1.05 |
