Buildings in Auckland, New Zealand, Tuesday, September 13, 2022. Photographer: Fiona Goodall/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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Markets in Asia Pacific were mostly down on Wednesday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1.05% and the Hang Seng Tech index lost 1.16%, dragged by healthcare and industrial stocks.
China’s mainland markets also extended losses from Tuesday, with Shanghai composite down 0.63% and Shenzhen component marginally lower.
In Japan is Nikkei 225 fell 1.08% and the Topix fell 0.54%, even as the country’s business sentiment among manufacturers turned positive for the first time in 2023, according to a Reuters Tankan survey.
South Korea’s Kospi fell 0.26%, while the Kosdaq was down 0.38%. In Australia is S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.43%.
New Zealand shares reversed losses, while the New Zealand dollar strengthened against the US dollar after the country’s central bank raised its key interest rate to 5.5%, in line with expectations from economists polled by Reuters. The S&P/NZX 50 gross index crept 0.17% higher after the move.
The country also saw its retail trade volume fall by 4.1% on an annual basis in the first quarter, the second straight quarterly decline after a 4% drop in the quarter ended in December.
Overnight in the US, all three major indexes fell, with Nasdaq Composite leading losses of 1.26% lower, while S&P 500 lost 1.12% and Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.69%.
— CNBC’s Samantha Subin and Alex Harring contributed to this report
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