Bombay Gate Gateway of India, Mumbai
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Asia-Pacific markets closed mixed on Wednesday, breaking ranks with Wall Street, as investors assessed China’s industrial profits data.
China’s industrial profits slipped 1.5% from a year earlier in July, marking a notable recovery following months of steeper declines.
Separately, secondary U.S. tariffs of 25% on Indian shipments kicked in Wednesday, pushing overall duties on the country’s exports to 50%. Indian markets were closed for a holiday.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended the day marginally higher, adding 0.3% to close at 42,520.27. Photographic equipment manufacturer Nikon Corporation led gains in the index, surging over 20% as of 10:04 p.m. ET Tuesday, as EssilorLuxottica, the maker of Ray-Ban sunglasses, considers a potential deal to raise its stake in Nikon, according to Bloomberg.
The broader Topix index closed flat at 3,069.74.
South Korea’s Kospi added 0.25% to end the trading day at 3,187.16. The small-cap Kosdaq was little changed at 801.72.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.28% to 8,960.5.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 1.32%, while the mainland CSI 300 slid 1.49% to 4,386.13. The CSI 300 has been surging recently, with some economists and banks such as Nomura pointing to “irrational exuberance.”
“Sentiment is becoming excessively optimistic,” said Hao Hong, managing partner and CIO of Lotus Asset Management. However, he noted that it is still “too early” to call the market a bubble.
“Given the improving liquidity conditions and a dovish Fed, any correction will tend to be shallow and brief,” he added.
Overnight stateside, the three major benchmarks ended the trading day higher. The S&P 500 rose as Wall Street looked beyond President Donald Trump’s removal of Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook from the central bank’s board and awaited quarterly figures from chip giant Nvidia.
The broad market S&P 500 settled up 0.41% at 6,465.94. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite also added 0.44% to end the day at 21,544.27. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average added 135.60 points, or 0.30%, to finish at 45,418.07.
— CNBC’s Sean Conlon, Sarah Min and Christina Cheddar Berk contributed to this report.
