Chinese markets are muted after Wall Street bounces back; oil drops about 2%

Key Points

• Stocks in the Asia-Pacific traded mixed on Wednesday.
• The Bank of Japan, after maintaining its ultra-low interest rates last week, released the minutes from its April monetary policy meeting on Wednesday morning.
• Major indexes in the U.S. jumped on Tuesday after weeks of declines.

SINGAPORE — Shares in the Asia-Pacific region traded mixed on Wednesday, as Wall Street bounced back after a turbulent week.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 gave up early gains to sit below the flatline, while the Topix was 0.14% higher.

In South Korea, the Kospi fell 1.1%, while the Kosdaq was declined 1.41%.

Markets in mainland China were flat in early trade. The Shanghai Composite was up slightly, and the Shenzhen Component was down 0.13%. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index fell 0.49%.

The rebound in U.S. equities overnight … will be taken with a pinch of salt as elevated inflation and risks to growth persist.

Lavanya Venkateswaran

economist, Mizuho Bank

The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia advanced 0.21%.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan declined 0.53%.

Major indexes in the U.S. jumped on Tuesday after weeks of declines. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 641.47 points or 2.15% to 30,530.25, while the S&P 500 rose 2.45% to 3,764.79. The tech-focused Nasdaq advanced 2.51% to 11,069.302.

“The rebound in U.S. equities overnight … will be taken with a pinch of salt as elevated inflation and risks to growth persist,” Lavanya Venkateswaran, an economist at Mizuho Bank, said in a note.

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The Bank of Japan, after maintaining its ultra-low interest rates last week, released the minutes from its April monetary policy meeting on Wednesday morning.

“Many members expressed the view that underlying inflation, measured by the CPI excluding such factors as energy, remained relatively low,” the minutes said.

Most members of BOJ policy board expect short-term and long-term interest rates to remain at their present levels or lower, the minutes added.

The Japanese yen crossed the 136 level on Tuesday and was last at 136.17 against the greenback. The currency has been weakening as the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy diverges from that of the Fed.

Experts previously told CNBC that the main focus of the central bank is not exchange rates but inflation.

TICKER	COMPANY	NAME	PRICE	CHANGE	%CHANGE
.N225	Nikkei 225 Index	*NIKKEI	26276.68	30.37	0.12
.HSI	Hang Seng Index	*HSI	21426.14	-133.45	-0.62
.AXJO	S&P/ASX 200	*ASX 200	6533.6	9.8	0.15
.SSEC	Shanghai	*SHANGHAI	3300.37	-6.35	-0.19
.KS11	KOSPI Index	*KOSPI	2373.49	-35.44	-1.47
.FTFCNBCA	CNBC 100 ASIA IDX	*CNBC 100	8120.77	-44.78	-0.55

Oil falls around 2%

Oil futures declined nearly 2% in Asia trade. International benchmark Brent crude futures slipped 1.87% to $112.51 per barrel. U.S. crude futures also dropped by 1.96% to $107.37 per barrel.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, last traded at 104.564.

The Australian dollar was at $0.6948, after falling from levels above $0.702 late last week.

Source : CNBC