SHANGHAI, CHINA – A German Christmas market lights up at the Bund Central Square near Nanjing Road Pedestrian Street in Shanghai on December 15, 2022. (Photo credit: CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets closed mostly lower on Wednesday, breaking ground with Wall Street, where major benchmarks rose overnight on better-than-expected economic growth data.
Japanese Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.14% to close at 50,344.1, while TOPIX fell 0.46% to close at 3,407.37. Japan’s public broadcaster NHK reported on Wednesday that Japan plans to issue about 29.6 trillion yen (about $190 billion) in new government bonds to finance the 2026 budget.
The yield on 30-year Japanese government bonds rose more than 2 basis points to a record high of 3.454%. The yield on the 20-year government bond rose less than 1 basis point to 2.992%.
Shares in Japan’s Sapporo Holdings rose 3.7% after the beverage maker announced a deal to sell its real estate arm to private equity firms KKR and PAG for 477 billion yen (about $3 billion).
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.21% to 4,108.62, and the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.47% to 915.2. of Korean won The currency rose more than 1% to $1,462.3 against the dollar after Reuters reported that the country’s national pension fund is conducting strategic currency hedging activities.
Shares of South Korean battery materials maker EnChem soared more than 10% after domestic media reported that the company had signed a supply deal with China. Contemporary Amperex Technology Company The value is approximately 1.5 trillion Korean won (approximately $1.03 billion).
hong kong Hang Seng Index rose 0.17% to close at 25,818.93, while mainland China’s CSI300 index rose 0.29% to close at 4,634.06.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.38% to 8,762.7, ending a four-day streak of gains.
India’s Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex were trading flat as of 12:45 pm local time.
On Wednesday, spot gold prices hit a new record, surpassing $4,500 an ounce for the first time, on the back of a weaker dollar, geopolitical tensions and expectations of a US Federal Reserve rate cut. Gold has hit new all-time highs this year, surging more than 70% year-to-date.
Platinum prices soared to an all-time high, topping $2,300 per ounce.
“Gold is above $4,500, silver is toying with $72, and platinum is chasing $2,400. All are definitely benefiting from the attractiveness as a hedge against a weaker US dollar,” said Vishnu Varathan, head of macro research for Asia ex-Japan at Mizuho Securities.
The U.S. dollar index has fallen about 10% since the beginning of the year, according to LSEG data.
U.S. futures were trading almost flat in the first half of Asian trading.
Overnight in the US, stocks rose for the fourth straight session as artificial intelligence stocks continued to outperform during the holiday-shortened week.
The S&P 500 rose 0.46% to close at a record high of 6,909.79. The market-wide index is currently just below its intraday high of 6,920.34.
The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.57% to end at 23,561.84. Tech giants Nvidia and Broadcom rose about 3% and more than 2%, respectively, pushing the index higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 79.73 points, or 0.16%, to settle at 48,442.41.
—CNBC’s Fred Imbert, Sean Conlon and Pia Singh contributed to this report.
