Buildings in the central business district in Singapore, on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024. Singapore’s economy expanded by a slightly more modest pace than initially expected in 2023, as manufacturing activity contracted and services growth slowed.
Nicky Loh | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Asia-Pacific markets were mixed after Tuesday’s broad sell-off, with traders watching trade data out of Japan and Singapore on Wednesday.
Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports plunged 20.7% in March, marking a huge miss from the 7% decline expected by economists polled by Reuters.
Investor sentiment, however, might be tempered by comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who said there has been “a lack of further progress so far this year on returning to our 2% inflation goal.”
Echoing recent statements by central bank officials, Powell indicated the current level of policy likely will stay in place until inflation gets closer to target.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 1.32% to end at 37,961.8, below the 38,000 mark for the first time since February, while the broad-based Topix saw a smaller loss of 1.26% and closed at 2,663.15.
The Reuters Tankan index showed that business optimism dipped in Japan for April.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was 0.1% lower, but the CSI 300 on mainland China bucked the trend and gained 1.55%, closing at 3,565.4.
South Korea’s Kospi also extended losses, falling 0.98% to 2,584.18 after leading losses in Asia on Tuesday, but the small cap Kosdaq was marginally up and ended at 833.03.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 ended marginally down, finishing at 7,605.6.