Asia report: Chinese tech plays lead markets lower

Most Asian-Pacific stock markets witnessed sharp declines on Wednesday, led primarily by technology shares in China. Japan was the only notable exception, with its indices closing in the green.

“Asian equity markets experienced subdued trading as they reacted to the negative performance on Wall Street and lacked positive macroeconomic drivers,” said Patrick Munnelly at TickMill.

“Market participants eagerly awaited the testimony of Fed Chair Powell in Congress, adding to the cautious sentiment.”

Japanese markets the outlier in a sea of red

Japan's Nikkei 225 climbed by 0.56% to close at 33,575.14, and the broader Topix index edged up 0.49% to end the day at 2,295.01.

Among the leading performers on Tokyo’s benchmark was CyberAgent, which jumped 4.36%, while Kobe Steel gained 4.22% and T&D Holdings added 3.83%.

In China, both the Shanghai Composite and the Shenzhen Component recorded losses, dropping 1.31% to 3,197.90 and 2.18% to 11,058.63 respectively.

The tech sector took a significant hit, with Inmyshow Digital Technology plummeting 10.03% and China Publishing Media sliding 10.01%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index tumbled 1.98% to 19,218.35, with the largest decliners including Xinyi Solar, shedding 5.72%, Sunny Optical Tech, falling 5.48%, and Anta Sports Products, slipping 5.46%.

In South Korea, the Kospi index fell by 0.86% to 2,582.63, as industrial equipment company Doosan Bobcat dropped 8.18% and food manufacturer CJ Cheijdegang lost 5.31%.

The Australian S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.58% to 7,314.90, as Flight Centre Travel Group faced significant losses, down 6.88%, followed by TPG Telecom, which slid 5.4%.

New Zealand's S&P/NZX 50 saw a modest drop of 0.11% to 11,776.25, with tech company Eroad and cancer diagnostics firm Pacific Edge falling 2.53% and 2.3% respectively.

In currency markets, the yen was last 0.33% weaker against the dollar at JPY 141.94, as the Aussie lost 0.5% to trade at AUD 1.4811.

The Kiwi meanwhile retreated 0.07% from the greenback to change hands at NZD 1.6225.

Oil markets showed a mixed performance, with Brent crude futures last down 0.04% on ICE at $74.87 per barrel, while the NYMEX quote for West Texas Intermediate edged up 0.04% to $71.22.

Business sentiment improves among large Japanese manufacturers

In economic news, Japanese business sentiment among large-scale manufacturing entities demonstrated continued positivity for the second consecutive month in May, according to the latest Reuters Tankan survey.

The manufacturers' sentiment index rose two points from May's +6 to reach +8 in June, marking an ongoing improvement.

On the other hand, non-manufacturing industries in Japan reported a slight dip in business confidence.

The index decreased marginally to +24, just below the annual high of +25 reported in April.

Despite the slight drop, the overall positive score continues to signify an optimistic perspective on the business environment.

Meanwhile, in South Korea, the annual growth of producer prices showed signs of deceleration in May.

The producer prices index increased by 0.6% year-on-year, a slower rate compared to the 1.6% growth observed in April.

That change placed the index at 120.14, marginally below April's reading of 120.5.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.