Pedestrians walking across a crowded traffic at Shibuya crossing square in Tokyo, Japan.
Jaczhou | E+ | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets traded mostly higher Wednesday after Wall Street halted its six-day win streak.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 0.61% to close at 37,298.98 after the country reported that exports slowed for a second straight month as the country reels under U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs.
South Korea's Kospi climbed 0.91% to close at 2,625.58 while the small-cap Kosdaq traded 1.13% higher to close at 723.62.
Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.52% to close at 8,386.8.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 0.62% higher to close at 23,827.78 while mainland China's CSI 300 added 0.47% to close at 3,916.38.
The Bank of Indonesia has cut its benchmark interest rate to 5.5%.
The bank slashed policy rates in September 2024, and then again in January 2025, keeping rates on hold at 5.75%, HSBC noted in a report.
The bank's economists cited slow first-quarter GDP growth and weakening currency against the greenback as reasons for cutting rates.
U.S. futures were little changed. S&P 500 futures wavered Tuesday night following a losing session on Wall Street that snapped a winning streak. Futures tied to the broad index shed 0.2%, as did Nasdaq 100 futures. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost 93 points, or 0.2%.
Overnight stateside, the three major averages closed lower. Stocks slipped on Tuesday as the big tech-led rally lost steam and the S&P 500 ended a six-day winning run.
The S&P 500 fell 0.39% to end at 5,940.46, while the Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.38% and closed at 19,142.71. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 114.83 points, or 0.27%, finishing at 42,677.24. Investors dumped tech stocks, which had led the run over the past six days. The sector lost 0.5%. Nvidia slid 0.9%. Advanced Micro Devices, Meta Platforms, Apple and Microsoft also dropped.
— CNBC's Lisa Kailai Han and Jesse Pound contributed to this report.
AI PCs will become mainstream in the next 2-3 years: ASUS
Artificial intelligence PCs will become "mainstream", making up about 50-60% of PCs in the next two to three years, S.Y. Hsu, co-CEO of ASUS predicted on CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" Wednesday.
The Taiwanese tech company is well-positioned in this domain given the company's ability to provide "the most comprehensive product line for the whole AI PC" with components from Qualcomm, Intel and AMD, Hsu said.
Asus delivered a strong first-quarter report card, which Hsu attributes to the demand for gaming and PC products, as well as AI server-related products.
Currently, the company enjoys over 30% of the global market share of AI PCs, which "is quite aligned with out expectations", Hsu added.
- Diane Jorolan, Neha Hegde
Anticipating tariffs can create an arbitrage opportunity for traders: LME CEO
Tariff uncertainty has created a valuable arbitrage opportunity for traders, Matthew Chamberlain, CEO of LME told CNBC's "Squawk Box Asia" Wednesday.
"There is not yet certainty around what that U.S copper tariff number will be, and therefore there is an arbitrage opportunity where traders can take untaxed metal, particularly from Asia, ship that to the United States, and aim to get that onshore before the tariffs come in," Chamberlain said.
"This is driven not by the presence of tariffs, but by the possibility of tariffs," he noted.
- Diana Himawan, Neha Hegde
Morgan Stanley sees global growth slowing in 2025
Morgan Stanley sees the global economy growing more slowly in 2025 than it did in 2024 on the back of a tariffs-related trade shock hitting economies across the board.
"In our baseline outlook, we forecast a slowdown in global growth from 3.5% 4Q/4Q in 2024 to 2.5% in 2025," the bank's economists said in a note Wednesday.
Here are some of the bank's expectations:
- In the U.S., GDP growth might moderate sharply from 2.5% in 2024 to just 1.0% in both 2025 and 2026, due to tariffs, tighter immigration policies and a lack of strong fiscal or regulatory support.
- The euro area's growth may come in below 1%, held back by weaker private consumption and exports.
- China will also take a hit, with growth shaved by roughly 0.5 percentage points in 2025 compared to 2024.
— Lee Ying Shan
CATL shares continue to climb after listing Hong Kong trading debut
Shares of the world's largest battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology continued to climb a day after its Hong Kong trading debut, with investors optimistic about the battery giant's prospects amid the growing electric vehicle market.
Hong Kong listed shares of CATL rose 4.02% as of 9.37 a.m. HKT.
CATL's IPO raised HK$35.7 billion ($4.6 billion) according to a company filing, reportedly making it the largest offering this year globally.
—Lee Ying Shan
'Japan's manufacturers are in for a tough time,' says Moody's Analytics
Japan's deteriorating trade outlook does not bode well for exports in the months ahead, Moody's Analytics wrote in a note following Japan's latest trade data.
Japan's trade deficit widened modestly in April in line with expectations, but even if the Asian nation and the U.S. strikes a trade deal that curtails some of the harsher tariffs, a complete return to pre-Trump terms is not on the table, said Stefan Angrick, Moody's Analytics head of Japan and frontier markets economics.
"Tariffs are the main threat to the outlook... With the end of the 90-day tariff pause looming, the stakes are high," he said, elaborating that Japan's factories are tightly woven into global supply chains and sudden shifts in trade policy could send shockwaves through the wider economy and dent growth.
"In all, Japan's manufacturers are in for a tough time," said Angrick.
–Lee Ying Shan
Japan exports growth slows for a second straight month as U.S. tariffs bite
Japan exports slowed for a second straight month, government data showed Wednesday, as the country reels under U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs.
Exports growth of 2% was in line with Reuters-polled analysts' estimates, its slowest since October last year and the worst showing since September when exports contracted 1.7%.
The country's imports shrank 2.2% from a year ago, less than estimates of a 4.5% decline.
Japan's real gross domestic product contracted an annualized 0.7% in the first quarter this year, preliminary government data showed, dragged down by stagnant private consumption and slowing export growth.
Read the full story here.
—Anniek Bao
S&P 500 snaps 6-day win streak
The S&P 500 snapped a six-day winning streak on Tuesday.
The benchmark fell 0.39% to close at 5,940.46. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 114.83 points, or 0.27%, and settled at 42,677.24. The Nasdaq Composite shed 0.38% to finish at 19,142.71.
— Lisa Kailai Han
English (US) ·