SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific were mostly lower in Wednesday morning trade, as investors reacted to the release of Chinese inflation data.
Mainland Chinese stocks were mixed, with the Shanghai composite 0.11% higher while the Shenzhen component shed 0.206%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dipped 0.14%.
On the economic data front, China’s producer price index for May jumped 9% from a year earlier, against expectations in a Reuters poll for a 8.5% increase. The country’s consumer price index in May rose 1.3% from a year earlier, lower than an expected 1.6% rise in a Reuters poll.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 shed 0.3% in morning trade while the Topix index dipped 0.2%. South Korea’s Kospi also declined 0.18%.
Meanwhile, shares in Australia declined as the S&P/ASX 200 fell fractionally.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside of Japan traded 0.25% lower.
Meanwhile, the World Bank on Tuesday upgraded its growth forecast, with the global economy now expected to grow 5.6% in 2021. That compared against an earlier forecast in January for a 4% global economic expansion in 2021.
Still, the organization warned in a Tuesday press release that global output will be about 2% below pre-pandemic projections by the end of this year in spite of the recovery.
Overnight on Wall Street, the S&P 500 closed little changed at 4,227.26. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 30.42 points to 34,599.82 while the Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.31% to 13,924.91.
Currencies and oil
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 90.071 — hovering above the 90 level that it fell below earlier in the week.
The Japanese yen traded at 109.45 per dollar, weaker than levels around 109.2 seen against the greenback earlier this week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7737, as compared with levels around $0.776 seen earlier in the trading week.
Oil prices were higher in the morning of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures rising 0.26% to $72.41 per barrel. U.S. crude futures gained 0.33% to $70.28 per barrel.
Source: CNBC