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Equity markets across the Asia Pacific (APAC) region were trading with gains on Wednesday as Japan decided to extend the COVID-19 emergency and Reserve Bank of New Zealand decided to keep the rates unchanged.
At the time of writing this, all the APAC markets were trading in the green – with gains ranging from 0.01% to over 1%.
Morgan Stanley Capital International’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded lower by 1.21%.
The APAC markets rallied despite an overnight sell-off in Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 282.12 points to 35,343.28 while the S&P 500 slipped 0.71% to 4,448.08. The Nasdaq Composite shed 0.93% to 14,656.18.
Here is how major APAC markets are doing today:
- Japan: In Japan, the benchmark Nikkei 225 gained 0.74% while the Topix index climbed 0.72%. According to local media reports, Japan’s government on Tuesday decided to extend the COVID-19 state of emergency (imposed in July) in Tokyo and other areas to 12 September. The number of COVID-19 cases continues to rise unabated in Japan, with the country reporting 116,033 infections in last seven days – a jump of 17% on sequential basis.
- New Zealand: The Dow Jones New Zealand was up 0.88% at the time of filling this copy. The markets witnessed buying after the country’s central bank – the Reserve Bank of New Zealand – announced on Wednesday that it would keep its monetary settings unchanged, leaving the official cash rate at 0.25%.
- Australia: Down Under, the Australian markets remained more or less muted. The benchmark ASX200 was trading at 0.07% higher. The country has been grappling with increasing COVID-19 cases– especially in the financial hub of Sydney.
- China/Hong Kong: Mainland Chinese stocks advanced in a turnaround from yesterday, as the Shanghai Composite gained 0.56% while the Shenzhen component rose 0.38%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index traded 0.71% higher. The indices had crashed yesterday over fears of continued regulatory purge on Hong Kong-listed Chinese tech companies.
- Other markets: In Seoul, the KOSPI was up 0.89%, while in Taipei, the Taiwan Weighted index was up 0.32%. All the markets in the region were trading in the green.
