Asia-Pacific stocks were mixed as investors digest incoming results of the United States midterm elections and China’s annualized producer prices fell for the first time in October since December 2020.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 retreated 155.68 points, or 0.6%, to 27,716.43.
Shares of Nintendo fell more than 6% in early trade in Japan after reporting earnings after Tuesday’s market close.
The company adjusted its full-year financial outlook and cut its projection for Nintendo Switch hardware sales by 9.5% from 21 million units to 19 million in its latest release.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng fell 198.79 points, or 1.2%, to 16,358.52.
Shares of technology companies listed in the city fell sharply in the afternoon, with Tencent falling 4.5% and Meituan losing 4.5%. Hong Kong-listed shares of Alibaba also fell 2.6% and Xiaomi also fell 2.1%.
Electric vehicle makers also saw sharp losses, with BYD declining 6% and Xpeng dropped more than 7.2% and Nio fell 5.5%.
Hong Kong-listed Chinese property stocks surged after a regulator under the People’s Bank of China expanded a support program for indebted developers.
The National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors said on Tuesday it will expand its credit program that supports debt sales for private enterprises including real estate companies.
Cifi Holdings jumped more than 41%, Country Garden rose 22%, and Logan Group jumped 38%. Longfor Group also rose 13.4% in the first hour of trade.
South Korea’s seasonally adjusted October jobless rate came in at 2.8%, unchanged from September, according to the government statistics agency.
The nation added 677,000 jobs compared to a year ago, the release showed.
CHINA
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 ditched 35.06 points, or 0.9%, to 3,714.27.
The Chinese yuan weakened past 7.25-levels against the U.S. dollar after its latest economic data release.
China’s producer price index fell 1.3% in October on an annualized basis after rising 0.9% in September, beating estimates for a 1.5% contraction in a Reuters poll.
The nation’s October PPI marks the first decline since December 2020, according to FactSet data.
China’s consumer price index rose 2.1% in October compared to a year ago, easing after climbing 2.8% in September.
In other markets
In Taiwan, the Taiex jumped 291.05 points, or 2.2%, to 13,638.81.
In Korea, the Kospi index gained 25.37 points, or 1.1%, to 2,424.41.
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index added 19.67 points, or 0.6%, to 3,165,50.
In Australia, the ASX 200 moved ahead 40.42 points, or 0.6%, to 6,999.30.
In New Zealand, markets returned to trading Wednesday with the NZX 50 docking 8.41 points, or 0.1%, to 11,143.48.
