© Reuters. Asian stocks close with no single direction, after losses in NY with weak data
Asian and Pacific stock markets closed without a single direction on Wednesday, 5, after Wall Street suffered losses in the wake of weak US economic data.
The Japanese stock index fell 1.68% in Tokyo, to 27,813.26 points, pressured by shares of commercial warehouses and machine manufacturers, while the South Korean advanced 0.59% in Seoul, to 2,495.21 points, with the help of roles related to batteries and electronics.
In mainland China, as well as in Hong Kong and Taiwan, markets were closed due to public holidays.
On Tuesday, New York stocks ended the session with moderate losses after disappointing US indicators revived fears of recession in the world’s largest economy. In February, job openings in the US fell to the lowest level in almost two years, while industrial orders fell more than expected.
Although the American data is worrying from a macroeconomic point of view, it also gives room for the Federal Reserve (Fed, the US central bank) to leave its basic interest rate unchanged for the first time in more than a year, at its May meeting. The hypothesis of maintaining US interest rates next month became the majority since Tuesday, according to the CME Group’s expectations monitoring tool.
In Oceania, the Australian stock exchange was practically stable this Wednesday, with weakness in commodity stocks and the good performance of roles in other sectors. The was marginally up 0.02% in Sydney, at 7,237.20 points. With information from Dow Jones Newswires.