Asia-Pacific markets traded lower on Wednesday, following a weaker lead from Wall Street as investors digested developments surrounding OPEC and renewed concerns about the technology sector.
The United Arab Emirates is set to exit OPEC on 1 May, dealing a significant blow to the oil-producing cartel, which has long coordinated output among some of the world’s largest energy exporters, particularly in the Middle East.
Technology sentiment also came under pressure after a report indicated that OpenAI’s revenue and user growth had fallen short of internal targets.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar had raised concerns to company leadership that the group may struggle to meet its computing contract obligations if revenue growth does not accelerate sufficiently.
By 11:15 am AEST (1:15 am GMT), Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 had fallen 0.4%, South Korea’s KOSPI 200 slipped 0.4%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 remained closed for a public holiday.
Investors are also closely monitoring key economic data, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) scheduled to release inflation figures at 11:30 am AEST (1:30 am GMT).
Markets expect annual inflation to rise to 4.8%, up from 3.7% in the previous reading, potentially influencing the outlook for monetary policy.
Overnight in the United States, major benchmarks closed lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1%, the S&P 500 declined 0.5%, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.9%, led by losses in technology stocks.
In commodities, Brent crude rose 2.7% to US$104.40 per barrel, while spot gold fell 1.8% to a five-week low of US$4,595.60 per ounce.
Across regional markets on Tuesday, China’s SSE Composite Index edged down 0.2% to 4,078.6, while the CSI 300 declined 0.3% to 4,758.2.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1% to 25,679.8, and India’s BSE Sensex dropped 0.5% to 76,886.9.
European markets also ended lower. The UK’s FTSE 100 rose marginally by 0.1% to 10,332.8, while Germany’s DAX fell 0.3% to 24,018.3 and France’s CAC 40 declined 0.5% to 8,104.1.
