Stocks in Asia Pacific largely rose on Wednesday as data showed Australia’s economy has officially slid into a recession.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 109.08 points, or 0.5%, to 23,247.15.
The Japanese yen traded at 106.04 per U.S. dollar after seeing levels around 105.5 against the greenback earlier in the week.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng fell 64.76 points, or 0.3%, to 25,120.09.
Australia’s gross domestic product fell 7% in the June quarter — the "largest quarterly fall on record" — the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) said Wednesday. That followed a 0.3% fall in the March quarter, said the ABS.
Following the data release, the Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7353, slipping from an earlier high of $0.7381.
Economists at Commonwealth Bank of Australia said in a note: "Nobody should be particularly surprised that production drops sharply when large parts of the economy are shut down. This was a manufactured contraction in the economy that was a direct result of policy decisions to limit the spread of COVID 19."
In other markets
The CSI 300 squirted ahead 1.77 points to 4,843.89.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index added 1.39 points, or 0.1%, to 2.539.94.
In Korea, the Kospi progressed 14.82 points, or 0.6%, to 2,364.37.
In Taiwan, the Taiex index tailed off 3.78 points to 12,699.50.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 regained 109.82 points, or 0.9%, to 11,902.98.
In Australia, the ASX 200 recovered 109.80 points, or 1.8%, to 6,063.21.
