Asian stock are mixed on Wednesday with investors turning cautious following the negative cues from Wall Street amid a surge in U.S. coronavirus cases and disappointing retail sales. Optimism over potential COVID-19 vaccines was offset by worries about the continued surge in coronavirus cases worldwide.
The Australian market is extending gains from the previous session despite the weak cues from Wall Street. Gains by banks and gold miners offset weakness in the mining and oil sectors.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is adding 32.60 points or 0.50 percent to 6,530.80, after rising to a high of 6,537.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 31.70 points or 0.47 percent to 6,729.50. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Tuesday.
In the banking space, Westpac, National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking are higher in a range of 1.0 percent to 1.8 percent, while Commonwealth Bank is rising more than 2 percent.
Gold miners are also higher even as gold prices ended a three-day winning streak and closed lower overnight. Evolution Mining is advancing almost 1 percent and Newcrest Mining is adding 0.5 percent.
Meanwhile, oil stocks are mostly lower even as crude oil prices edged higher overnight. Oil Search is losing more than 2 percent and Santos is lower by more than 1 percent, while Woodside Petroleum is edging up 0.1 percent.
Among the major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are declining more than 1 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is down 0.6 percent.
In economic news, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said wage prices in Australia were up a seasonally adjusted 0.1 percent on quarter in the third quarter of 2020, shy of expectations for an increase of 0.2 percent, which would have been unchanged from the second-quarter reading.
Australia will also see October results for new home sales and for the Westpac leading index.
The Japanese market is declining and the safe-haven yen strengthened following the negative cues from Wall Street.
In addition, the Nikkei newspaper reported that the Tokyo Metropolitan Government is taking steps to raise the city's COVID-19 alert to the highest of four levels as the number of coronavirus infections have continued to climb up over the past few weeks.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 212.15 points or 0.82 percent to 25,802.47, after touching a low of 25,718.92 earlier. Japanese shares ended at a fresh 29-year high on Tuesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is down 0.4 percent and Fast Retailing is declining more than 1 percent.
SoftBank Group CEO and founder Masayoshi Son said he has created a cash pile of more than $80 billion following aggressive asset sales this year, in order to prepare for a "worst case scenario" of COVID-19.
In the tech space, Tokyo Electron is losing more than 2 percent and Advantest is lower by 0.6 percent.
The major exporters are lower on a stronger yen. Panasonic and Mitsubishi Electric are losing almost 2 percent each, Canon is declining more than 1 percent, and Sony is down more than 1 percent.
In the banking sector, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is down more than 1 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is edging up 0.1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is lower by more than 3 percent and Toyota is lower by more than 1 percent.
Among the major gainers, Unitika and Takeda Pharmaceutical are rising more than 1 percent each.
Conversely, Sumitomo Electric Industries is tumbling more than 5 percent, Mitsubishi Motors is losing almost 5 percent, and Olympus Corp. is lower by more than 4 percent.
In economic news, Japan posted a merchandise trade surplus of 872.899 billion yen in October, the Ministry of Finance said on Wednesday. That exceeded forecasts for a surplus of 250 billion yen following the surplus of 675 billion yen in September.
Exports were down 0.2 percent on year at 6.566 trillion yen, beating expectations for a decrease of 4.5 percent following the 4.9 percent drop in the previous month. Imports were down an annual 13.3 percent at 5.693 trillion yen versus expectations for a fall of 9.9 percent following the 17.2 percent tumble a month earlier.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 104 yen-range on Wednesday.
Elsewhere in Asia, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan and Hong Kong are also higher, while Shanghai, New Zealand and Malaysia are lower. South Korea is little changed.
On Wall Street, stocks climbed off their worst levels, but still closed lower on Tuesday. Profit taking contributed to the initial pullback, although a continued spike in cases weighed on the markets. Data from John Hopkins University showed more than 166,000 news coronavirus cases on Monday, with the total number of cases in the U.S. now exceeding 11 million. Negative sentiment was also generated in reaction to a report from the Commerce Department showing retail sales rose by less than expected in the month of October.
The Dow slid 167.09 points or 0.6 percent to 29,783.35, the Nasdaq dipped 24.79 points or 0.2 percent to 11,899.34 and the S&P 500 fell 17.38 points or 0.5 percent to 3,609.53.
The major European markets ended mixed on Tuesday. While the French CAC 40 Index crept up by 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index closed just below the unchanged line and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.9 percent.
Crude oil futures contracts ended slightly higher on Tuesday, recovering from early losses. WTI crude for December ended up by $0.09 or about 0.2 percent at $41.43 a barrel.
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