Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed following Wall Street losses Wednesday, while investors assessed Japan’s trade data and souring business sentiment among large manufacturers.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 lost 101.45 points, or 0.3%, to 38,262.16, after Japanese manufacturers’ business confidence tumbled to -1 in February, compared with the previous month’s reading of 6, according to the Reuters Tankan poll. That marks the first negative reading since last April.
The data comes less than a week after Japan slid into a technical recession and lost its spot as the third-largest global economy to Germany.
The Reuters monthly poll is considered to be a leading indicator of the Bank of Japan’s official survey.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index rocketed 255.59 points, or 1.6%, to 16,503.10, driven by property, technology and health-care stocks.
In other markets
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 gained 46.02 points, or 1.4%, to 3,456.87,
Singapore’s Straits Times Index dumped 26.95 points, or 0.8%, to 3,217.11.
In Korea, the Kospi dropped 4.48 points, or 0.2%, to 2,653.31.
In Taiwan, the Taiex index stumbled 76.85 points, or 0.4%, to 18,676.31.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 recovered 19.25 points, or 0.2%, to 11,590.47.
In Australia, the ASX 200 dipped 50.69 points, or 0.7%, to 7,608.36.
