Asia-Pacific markets closed mostly lower Wednesday, breaking ranks with Wall Street that saw key benchmarks advance overnight after better-than-expected economic growth data.
The Nikkei 225 dipped 68.77 points on Christmas Eve to 50,344.10.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported on Wednesday that the country was set to issue about 29.6 trillion yen (about $190 billion U.S.) in new government bonds to fund its fiscal 2026 budget.
Yields on the 30-year Japanese government bond rose over two basis points to a record high of 3.454%. Yields on the 20-year JGBs rose a little under one basis point to 2.992%.
Shares of Japan’s Sapporo Holdings rose 3.7% as the beverage maker announced a 477-billion-yen (about $3 billion U.S.) deal to sell its real estate unit to private equity firms KKR and PAG.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.17% to end the trading day at 25,818.93,
The South Korean won strengthened over 1% to 1,462.3 against the greenback, with Reuters reporting that country’s national pension fund was carrying out strategic foreign exchange hedging activities.
Shares of South Korean battery materials maker EnChem jumped over 10% following a domestic media report that it had secured a supply deal with China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co valued at about Korean won 1.5 trillion (about $1.03 billion).
Australian markets fell, breaking a four-session win streak.
In other markets
Markets in Shanghai and New Zealand were shuttered for holidays.
The CSI 300 in Shanghai added 13.33 points, or 0.3%, to 4,634.06.
In Korea, the Kospi shed 8.7 points, or 0.2%, to 4,108.62.
In Taiwan, the Taiex acquired 61.51 points, or 0.2%, to 28,371.98
In Australia, the ASX 200 lost 33.01 points, or 0.4%, to 8,762.70.
