Asia-Pacific markets were mixed on Wednesday after Wall Street slumped, with Japan’s stocks soaring on expectations of a snap election next month.
By 11:40 am AEDT (12:40 am GMT), Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dipped 0.1% to 8,802.10 and South Korea’s Kospi 200 rose 0.2%% to 682.27. Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 0.9% to 54,037.95, crossing the 54,000 barrier for the first time.
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is stepping up preparations to call a snap election, news agency Jiji Press reported. The Nikkei also reached record highs yesterday on reports an election could be called for February.
The LDP has reportedly told its prefecture-level chapters to submit their candidates for the House by Monday. It is likely to dissolve the country’s House of Representatives on 23 January, per NHK.
China will report its balance of trade for December today. Its trade surplus in November was US$112 billion, its third-largest ever.
India will also release wage price index data for December later today. The country’s headline inflation was 1.33% in December, beating estimates, according to its consumer price index report earlier this week.
In the United States, the S&P 500 dropped 0.2%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.8% and the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.1%. The S&P and Dow notched fresh intraday highs and record closes.
Brent crude prices gained 2.5% to US$65.47 per barrel. Spot gold was roughly flat at $5,591.49 per ounce but hit a record $4,634.33 earlier in U.S. trading.
The Shanghai Composite dipped 0.6% to 4,138.76. The CSI 300 was down 0.6% to 4,761.03.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.9% to 26,848.47 while India’s BSE Sensex dropped 0.3% to 83,627.69.
European markets were mixed, with the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 flat at 10,137.35. Germany’s DAX climbed 0.1% to 25,420.66 while France’s CAC 40 shed 0.1% to 8,347.20.
