APAC markets opened mixed on Wednesday, as investors remained cautious ahead of key Nvidia earnings and rising geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
By 12 pm AEDT (1 am GMT) the ASX 200 eased 0.2%, the Kospi 200 added 0.2% and the Nikkei 225 remained flat.
Japanese exports came in at 3.1% year over year, topping market expectations of 2.2% and increasing from a 1.7% drop in September. Imports also exceeded expectations, coming in at 0.4%, but was down from 2.1% the prior month.
U.S. stocks also closed in a mixed fashion, with the Dow falling 120.7 points or 0.3% to 43,269, the S&P 500 adding 23.4 points or 0.4% to 5,917 and the Nasdaq Composite up 195.7 points or 1% to 18,987.5.
Investors monitored developments surrounding escalation between Ukraine and Russia, as Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the U.S. that the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons had lowered after President Joe Biden allowed Ukraine to use U.S. weapons to strike inside Russia.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin set another all-time high, as market participants remained optimistic on the prospects of the digital-asset industry under President-elect Donald Trump.
Among individual companies, gains were led by Super Micro Computer, surging 31.4%, Nvidia gaining 4.9% and Vistra Corp up 5.6%.
Among commodities, Gold continued to climb, adding US$7.26 or 0.3% to $2,639 per ounce, while Brent crude gained US$0.08 or 0.1% to $73.39 per barrel.
In China, the SSE Composite finished 22.2 points or 0.7% higher at 3,346 while the CSI 300 gained 26.5 points or 0.7% to 3,976.9.
In India, the BSE SENSEX added 239.4 points or 0.3% to 77,578.4.
In Europe, major indices declined with the FTSE 100 down 10.3 points or 0.1% to 8,099, Germany’s DAX declining 128.9 points or 0.7% to 19,060.3 and France’s CAC 40 falling 48.6 points or 0.7% to 7,229.6.