Tokyo is one of the most densely populated cities in the world, while rural areas of Japan are suffering with ageing populations and declining birth rates.
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Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed Wednesday, after Wall Street declined as investors awaited the key monetary policy decision from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s two-day meeting, where it is expected to cut interest rates.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index reversed losses from the start of the trading session to rise 0.17%, while the Topix index fell 0.4%.
The country’s exports dropped 0.1% year on year in August, government data showed, less than the 1.9% drop expected by economists polled by Reuters. The latest reading compares with the 2.6% decline in exports in the previous month.
Exports from the world’s fourth-largest economy have fallen into negative territory as the country grapples U.S. tariffs and a slowdown from the front-loading of exports at the start of the year.
Australia’s ASX/S&P 200 retreated 0.63%.
South Korea’s Kospi index lost 1.07%, while the small-cap Kosdaq fell 0.78%.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.69%, while the Hang Seng Tech index jumped 1.9%. Hong Kong-listed shares of Baidu surged as much as 11.57% after the Chinese language search provider announced Tuesday the completion of a 4.4 billion Chinese yuan ($618 million) offshore bond offering due in 2029.
Baidu also signed an agreement with state-owned China Merchants Group earlier on Monday to collaborate on AI technologies. Mainland’s CSI 300 was flat at the open.
Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports plunged 11.3% in August year over year, according to government data Wednesday, missing the 1% rise expected by Reuters-polled economists. The latest reading was dragged by falling demand in specialised machinery, food preparations and petrochemicals. It followed a revised 4.7% decline in July.
The city-state is one of the world’s most open economies, and its exports are widely watched as a bellwether of global demand and economic health.
U.S. equity futures were little changed in early Asian hours ahead of the Fed meeting Wednesday stateside. The central bank is widely expected to cut interest rates for the first time since December.
Overnight stateside, U.S. stocks were lower as investors took some profits ahead of the Fed outcome.
The S&P 500 traded 0.13% lower to close at 6606.76, after hitting a fresh record earlier in the session. The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.07% to finish the session at 22,333.96. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 125.55 points, or 0.27%, to close at 45,757.90.
— CNBC’s Lim Hui Jie, Pia Singh and Alex Harring contributed to this report.
