Asia markets closed mostly higher Wednesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 scaling a new peak.
The Nikkei 225 added 497.75 points, or 0.7%, to 69,902.25.
Japan’s exports in May grew at their fastest pace since November 2022, rising 17% year on year, beating expectations, driven by robust demand for cars and semiconductors.
Growth was higher than the 16.2% expected by economists polled by Reuters, and up from the 14.8% in April.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng dropped 181.79 points, or 0.7%, to 24,312.16.
HSBC’s shares in Hong Kong gained nearly 2% Wednesday after the lender reportedly announced a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud to build its artificial intelligence capabilities.
In other markets;
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 index regained 47.15 points, or 1%, to 4,931.39.
In Taiwan, the Taiex gathered 68.2 points, or 0.2%, to 45,877.39
In Korea, the Kospi index gained 137.64 points, or 1.6%, to 8,864.24.
In Singapore, the Straits Times 50 index took on 59.6 points, or 1.2%, to 5,176.46
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 shed 33.14 points, or 0.3%, to 13,392.99.
In Australia, the ASX sprang forward 48.64 points, or 0.6%, to 8,966.30.
