CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are mostly higher on Wednesday following the broadly positive lead overnight from Wall Street. The positive trend in global stock markets following a pullback by long-term treasury yields ahead of auctions in the coming days and greater momentum in vaccination drive aided sentiment. Technology stocks are tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. Asian markets saw a mixed close on Tuesday.
The Australian stock market pared early gains and is edging down on Wednesday, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 below the 6,800 level, after two straight days of gains, despite positive cues overnight from Wall Street.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 19.80 points or 0.29 percent to 6,751.40, after rising to a high of 6,806.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is lower by 18.00 points or 0.26 percent to 6,982.40. Australian stocks closed higher on Tuesday.
In the tech space, Appen is gaining 4 percent, Afterpay is surging more than 9 percent and WiseTech Global is adding more than 3 percent.
Gold miners are also higher as gold prices surged overnight. Evolution Mining is gaining almost 4 percent, Newcrest Mining is adding more than 3 percent and Northern Star Resources is up more than 4 percent.
Meanwhile, the major miners are notably lower. BHP Group is losing more than 2 percent, Fortescue Metals is plunging almost 7 percent and Rio Tinto is down nearly 4 percent.
Oil stocks are also lower after crude oil prices dropped overnight. Oil Search is declining almost 3 percent, Woodside Petroleum is down more than 3 percent and Santos is losing almost 2 percent.
Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and Commonwealth Bank are losing almost 1 percent each, while National Australia Bank is down more than 1 percent.
Shares in Hansen Technologies are surging more than 16 percent after the software company raised its full year revenue guidance, based on a service deal with Telefonica Germany GMBH.
In economic news, the latest survey from Westpac Bank showed consumer confidence in Australia picked up steam to improve 2.6 percent to a near a ten-year high score of 111.8 in March. That follows the 1.9 percent gain in February to 109.1. All components of the Index were higher in March.
Further, the total number of overall building permits issued in Australia in January was down a seasonally adjusted 19.4 percent on month in January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday - coming in at 15,926. That was in line with expectations following the 12.0 percent gain in December. This was the first drop in building permits since August last year. On a yearly basis, building permits were up 19.0 percent. The total value of overall building permits issued in January was down a seasonally adjusted 16.8 percent on month, coming in at A$9.064 billion.
Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of Australia chief Philip Lowe reiterated the bank's commitment to its three-year yield target and said it's not considering removing it or changing it. Australia's central bank has stepped up its bond buying in recent weeks, including an unscheduled operation, as it battled rising yields fueled by a reflation trade sweeping global markets.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.768 on Tuesday.
The Japanese stock market is edging up in choppy trading on Wednesday, after the benchmark Nikkei index moved above the 29,200 level earlier, following positive lead overnight from Wall Street.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 29,040.82, up 12.88 points or 0.04 percent, after touching a high of 29,233.47 in early trades. Japanese stocks closed higher on Tuesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is declining almost 2 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is down more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is losing almost 2 percent, while Toyota is edging down 0.2 percent.
In the tech space, Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.1 percent, Advantest is up more than 1 percent and Screen Holdings is adding almost 1 percent. In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is adding more than 1 percent, while Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is losing almost 1 percent.
The major exporters Panasonic and Cannon are declining more than 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is down almost 1 percent, while Sony is adding almost 3 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Dai Nippon Printing is gaining almost 6 percent, and Yamaha Motor is adding nearly 4 percent, while Yamato Holdings, Denso, Fujitsu, Fuji Electric, Okuma and Fanuc are alls rising almost 3 percent each.
Conversely, M3 is losing almost 5 percent, and Tokyo is down almost 4 percent, while Nippon Steel, JFE Holdings, Inpex, Mazda Motor and Kobe Steel are all lower by more than 3 percent each.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 108 yen-range on Wednesday.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Indonesia are all higher by 0.2 to 1.2 percent, while Singapore is lower.
On Wall Street, following the sell-off seen in the previous session, U.S. technology stocks showed a substantial move back to the upside during trading on Tuesday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq skyrocketed, bouncing off a nearly three-month closing low.
The Nasdaq soared 464.66 points or 3.7 percent to 13,073.82, recording its biggest single-day gain since last November. The S&P 500 also jumped 54.09 points or 1.4 percent to 3,875.44, while the Dow posted a much more modest gain, inching up 30.30 points or 0.1 percent to 31,832.74.
The major European markets all moved to the upside over the course of the trading day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged up by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both rose by 0.4 percent.
Crude oil futures failed to hold early gains and settled lower on Tuesday, extending losses from previous session. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended down $1.04 or 1.6 percent at $64.01 a barrel after rising to a high of $65.98 a barrel earlier in the day.
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