Asia-Pacific markets opened broadly lower on Wednesday, tracking Wall Street's losses overnight amid concerns over escalating Middle East tensions, elevated oil prices and rising bond yields.
By 11:50am AEST (1:50am GMT), Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was trading 1.2% lower, Japan's Nikkei 225 had fallen 3%, while South Korea's KOSPI 200 was down 3.1%.
Among economic data releases, Australian gross domestic product (GDP) rose 0.4% in the June quarter of 2026 and 2.1% from the June quarter of 2025, on a seasonally adjusted chain volume basis, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Grace Kim, ABS head of National Accounts, said: "Economic growth remained subdued in the June quarter as households continued to behave cautiously.
"While increased spending and business investment occurred in pockets of the economy, imports supported much of the growth, moderating its contribution to overall GDP growth".
In the U.S. on Tuesday, major benchmarks finished lower for a third consecutive session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8%, while the S&P 500 lost 0.7% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1%.
In commodities, ICE Brent crude jumped 4.6% to settle at US$94.65 a barrel, while spot gold fell 2.7% to US$4,328.35 an ounce.
Chinese markets also finished lower on Tuesday, with the SSE Composite Index easing 0.2% to 3,979.9 and the CSI 300 declining 0.3% to 4,611.4.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.9% to 25,329.7, while India's BSE Sensex was little changed at 76,944.3.
European markets also ended lower on Tuesday. The UK's FTSE 100 fell 0.3% to 10,789.3, Germany's DAX declined 1.1% to 25,970.1 and France's CAC 40 lost 0.4% to 8,301.9.
