Asian Markets Mixed; Japanese Stocks Fall Amid Weak Export Data

Investing.com – Asian markets were mixed on Wednesday, with Japanese stocks underperforming amid weaker-than-expected export data.

The Nikkei 225 traded 0.4% lower by 10:50 PM ET (02:50 GMT). Data showed today that the country’s fell for a 12th straight month in November.

Policy decision from the Bank of Japan is due later in the day.

China’s Shanghai Composite slipped 0.1%, while the inched up 0.1%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index also edged up 0.1% despite data that showed the city’s rose to the highest level since 2017 in November.

The overall unemployment rate jumped to 3.2%, according to a government release. The figure is mostly in line with expectation.

While not a directional driver for today, Reuters cited a senior executive from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and reported that the bourse is considering slashing the IPO price-to-trading gap in 2020.

The exchange planned to shorten the settlement period to a single day and hoped to achieve this by the fourth quarter of 2020, according to the article.

“This has been becoming more and more important for investors because of the volatility of the market these days,” Christina Bao, head of global issuer services at HKEX, said in an interview. “In today’s environment, any big news can come out overnight.”

South Korea’s KOSPI was little changed at 2,914.14.

Down under, Australia’s ASX 200 climbed 0.1%.

In the U.S., revised GDP data is due on Friday and is expected to be in focus.

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