SINGAPORE – Asia Pacific stocks were mixed in trading Wednesday morning, with Hong Kong stocks making up some losses from a two-day loss.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 1.4% in early trading on Wednesday. This was followed by a decline of more than 8% in two days earlier this week, sparked by regulatory fears surrounding sectors such as technology and private education.
“After the volatility of the financial crisis subsided, there was only one more period in 2011 when the Hang Seng saw a two-day decline of more than 7.5%, and there has not been a single two-day decline since the financial crisis that caused the Extent has exceeded the last two days, “wrote analysts of the Bespoke Investment Group in a statement on Tuesday.
Mainland Chinese stocks, however, continued to decline: the Shanghai composite lost 0.39% while the Shenzhen component lost 0.465%.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 lost 0.74% in morning trading while the Topix index was down 0.5%. South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.19%.
The S & P / ASX 200 in Australia lost 0.35%.
MSCI’s broadest index for Asia Pacific stocks outside of Japan traded 0.16% higher.
Stocks in motion
CNBC Pro’s Stock Picks and Investment Trends:
Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 85.79 points to 35,058.52 while the S&P 500 fell 0.47% to 4,401.46. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.21% to 14,660.58.
Currencies
The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback versus a basket of its competitors, hit 92.471 after falling over 92.7 recently.
The Japanese yen was trading at 109.81 per dollar, stronger than levels above 110.4 seen against the greenback earlier this week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7365, above the below $ 0.732 level hit last week.
Oil prices were higher on the morning of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude oil futures rising 0.52% to $ 74.87 a barrel. US crude oil futures rose 0.68% to $ 72.14 a barrel.
