Asian Markets Track Wall Street Lower

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Wednesday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, as traders remain cautious amid the continuing uncertainty prevailing over the size and the scope of the new reciprocal tariffs on imports in to the US. The lingering concerns over the effects of U.S.-China trade war continues to weigh on market sentiment. Asian markets closed mixed on Tuesday.

President Donald Trump has indicated a potential temporary tariff exemption for the auto industry, especially for counties like Mexico and Canada. At the same time, there were reports that the U.S. was kicking off investigations into imports of pharmaceuticals and semiconductors as part of a bid to impose tariffs.

Australian shares are trading modestly higher on Wednesday after opening in the red, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying below the 7,800 level, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in gold miners, financial and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in iron ore miners and energy stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 20.50 points or 0.26 percent to 7,782.20, after hitting a low of 7,747.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 17.80 points or 0.22 percent to 7,987.70. Australian stocks ended slightly higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 1 percent, Rio Tinto is edging down 0.3 percent, Mineral Resources is declining almost 4 percent and Fortescue Metals is down more than 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy and Santos are losing more than 1 percent each, while Beach energy is declining almost 1 percent. Origin Energy is edging up 0.3 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 1 percent, Appen is adding more than 1 percent, WiseTech Global are advancing more than 2 percent, Xero is edging up 0.5 percent and Zip is soaring almost 11 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.4 percent each, while Westpac is gaining more than 1 percent and National Australia Bank is adding almost 1 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining, Gold Road Resources, Resolute Mining and Newmont are gaining more than 1 percent each, Northern Star Resources is edging up 0.3 percent.

In other news, shares in Star Entertainment are slipping almost 5 percent after its return from a months-long trading suspension while the group scrambled to secure a rescue deal.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.634 on Wednesday.

The Japanese stock market is trading notably lower on Wednesday after opening in the green, reversing the gains in the previous two sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The Nikkei 225 is falling to near the 34,000 mark, with weakness in technology and financial stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 34,016.31, down 251.23 points or 0.73 percent, after hitting a low of 34,006.64 earlier. Japanese stocks ended significantly higher on Tuesday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is losing more than 1 percent, while Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is edging up 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.5 percent and Toyota is also edging up 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is losing more than 4 percent, Tokyo Electron is down almost 1 percent and Screen Holdings is declining almost 2 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is losing more than 1 percent, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is declining almost 2 percent and Mizuho Financial is down almost 1 percent.

Among the major exporters, Canon and Mitsubishi Electric are losing almost 1 percent each, while Panasonic is declining more than 2 percent. Sony is edging up 0.2 percent.

Among other major losers, Disco is losing more than 4 percent, while Socionext, Toray Industries, Terumo, Isetan Mitsukoshi, Sumco, Nidec and Sumitomo Electric Industries are declining almost 3 percent each.

Conversely, Eisai is gaining almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 142 yen-range on Wednesday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan are down 1.8 and 1.1 percent, respectively. China, South Korea and Malaysia are lower by between 0.5 and 0.6 percent each. New Zealand and Singapore are up 0.8 and 0.2 percent, respectively. Indonesia is relatively flat.

On the Wall Street, stocks continued to show a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Tuesday after ending Monday's volatile session notably higher. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing modestly lower.

The Dow fell 155.83 points or 0.4 percent to 40,368.96, the S&P 500 dipped 9.34 points or 0.2 percent to 5,396.63 and the Nasdaq edged down 8.32 points or 0.1 percent to 16,823.17.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.9 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both jumped by 1.4 percent.