Asia report: Stocks struggle for direction amid Wall Street focus

Stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region closed in a mixed state on Wednesday, as investors reacted cautiously to differing signals from the US Federal Reserve officials, and kept a close eye on the ongoing Wall Street earnings season.

“Another lacklustre handover from Wall Street left Asian equity markets trading with a tepid tone overnight,” said TickMill Group’s Patrick Munnelly.

“The Nikkei ran into supply early on, as data for Japanese manufacturing did little to inspire risk appetite as the number once again showed the sector remains anchored in negative territory.

“Losses in the property and tech sector continued to weigh on the Hang Seng, nursing losses over 1%, with the mainland Shanghai Composite also heading to close in the red as investors pare risk exposure ahead of US Treasury secretary [Janet] Yellen, who is set to give a speech later today on US-China economic ties.”

Stocks struggle for direction across the region

Japan's Nikkei 225 closed down 0.18% at 28,606.76, and the broader Topix was off 0.03% at 2,040.38.

Olympus Corporation, Taiyo Yuden, and TOTO were among the top losers on Tokyo’s benchmark, with declines of 2.64%, 2.3%, and 1.93%, respectively.

In China, the Shanghai Composite index fell by 0.68% at 3,370.13, while the Shenzhen Component lost 0.84% at 11,760.27.

Guangdong Guanhao and Foxconn Industrial Internet were among the top fallers in Shanghai, with a decline of 10.07% and 10.01%, respectively.

The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong experienced a decline of 1.37% at 20,367.76, with Country Garden Services, Country Garden Holdings, and Xiaomi being among the top losers with declines of 5.18%, 4.72%, and 4.34%, respectively.

Meanwhile, South Korea's Kospi index was up 0.16%, with SK IE Technology and Posco Future gaining 10.5% and 8.38%, respectively.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 index was slightly up, adding 0.07% to 7,365.50, with Telix Pharmaceuticals and Mercury NZ rising 5.4% and 4.1%, respectively.

New Zealand’s S&P/NZX 50 index added 0.28% to end the day at 11,917.82, with Mainfreight and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare among the leaders, with respective rises of 1.63% and 1.58%.

On the currencies front, the yen was last 0.52% weaker against the dollar at JPY 134.82.

The Aussie and the Kiwi were also in the red against the greenback, losing 0.38% to AUD 1.4926, and retreating 0.43% to change hands at NZD 1.6179, respectively.

Finally, in energy, Brent crude and West Texas Intermediate futures were both down, with the former last off 2.01% on ICE at $83.07 per barrel, and the latter 1.99% weaker on NYMEX at $79.25.

Malaysia trade data mixed as balance surplus rises

In economic news, Malaysia reported that its total trade for March came in at MYR 232.7bn (£42.27bn), which was down 1.6% year-on-year.

The country's exports were off 1.4% year-on-year at MYR 129.7bn, which was less than the 3.5% fall pencilled in by economists.

In contrast, imports came in lower than anticipated, declining by 1.8% to MYR 103bn, versus a forecast rise of 1.9%.

The decline in imports was put down to an 8.7% fall in intermediate goods on a year-on-year basis.

Despite the drop in total trade value, Malaysia said its trade balance increased 0.2% year-on-year, reaching a surplus of MYR 26.7bn.

That also surpassed economist expectations, which were for a surplus of MYR 21.1bn.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.