Asia-Pacific markets mostly rose on Wednesday as investors digest better-than-expected results from Wall Street.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index climbed 402.14 points, or 1.2%, to 32,896.03.
Business sentiment among manufacturers in Japan declined for the first time in six months in July, according to the Reuters Tankan survey, which measures confidence among large Japanese companies.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng docked 63.41 points, or 0.3%, to 18,952.31.
Australian markets pepped up Wednesday. Australia will see its unemployment figures out Thursday, seen as critical to the central bank on whether it will continue to hike rates.
New Zealand’s consumer price index recorded a 6% growth year on year, the second straight quarter that the country’s inflation rate has slowed.
This is compared to the 6.7% seen in the first quarter, and the 7.2% in the fourth quarter of 2022.
On a quarter-on-quarter basis, the consumer price index rose 1.1%, slightly lower than the 1.2% recorded in the same period the quarter before.
In other markets
In China, the CSI 300 lost 4.07 points, or 0.1%, to 3,850.87.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index regained 20.98 points, or 0.6%, to 3,275.24.
In Korea, the Kospi Index eked up 0.62 points to 2,608.24.
In Taiwan, the Taiex index lost 111.47 points, or 0.7%, to 17,116.44.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 recovered 11.73 points, or 0.1%, to 11,944.54.
In Australia, ASX 200 hiked 39.95 points, or 0.6%, to 7,323.72
