The Shanghai composite added 1.03%, the Shenzhen component gained 1.891%, Hang Seng index rose 1.74%, the Nikkei 225 dropped 0.15%, the Topix index was 0.23% higher, S&P/ASX 200 advanced nearly 0.6%, and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares was up 0.77%
Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Wednesday trade after a winning streak on Wall Street ended overnight stateside.
Mainland Chinese stocks were higher by the afternoon as the Shanghai composite gained 1.03% while the Shenzhen component advanced 1.891%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped 1.74%.
China’s consumer inflation declined in January, according to the country’s National Bureau of Statistics which reported the consumer price index slipped 0.3% from a year ago. The NBS also reported the producer price index rose 0.3% year over year in January.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.15% while the Topix index was 0.23% higher. South Korea’s Kospi traded flat.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose about 0.6%.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares advanced 0.77%.
In corporate news, shares of Toyota rose 2.04% while Japanese automotive supplier Denso’s stock gained 0.27%. The moves came after start-up Aurora announced it will collaborate with the firms to “build and globally deploy self-driving cars at scale.” Aurora bought Uber’s self-driving unit in December.
Meanwhile, shares of Nissan surged 2.83% after CEO Makoto Uchida reaffirmed the importance of electric vehicles to its future. He told CNBC that the firm will be looking to electrify 100% of all its new vehicle offerings “from the early 2030s in key markets.”
Uchida also told CNBC that Nissan is working with suppliers to “minimize” the impact of a global shortage of semiconductors that has hit the car industry especially hard.
In the US, the S&P 500 shed 0.1% to close at 3,911.23, ending a six-day winning streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 9.93 points to finish its trading day at 31,375.83 while the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.1% to a record close of 14,007.70.
The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 90.403 following a decline from levels around 91.2 seen earlier in the week.
