Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slid 2.47 per cent in the final hour of trading, leading losses among major Asian benchmarks
Asia-Pacific markets were trading lower on Wednesday, led by Hong Kong markets, while China’s benchmark index ended at its lowest level in more than a month as investors evaluated earnings and comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve board members.
Shares of Chinese food delivery giant Meituan slumped 12 per cent after warning of a demand slowdown for its services in its Q3 earnings call.
Chinese e-commerce giant Pinduoduo posted 94 per cent revenue growth in Q3, far exceeding Alibaba’s 9 per cent growth during the same period.
The mainland Chinese CSI 300 index ended 0.86 per cent down at 3,488.31, dropping to the lowest level since late October.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slid 2.47 per cent in the final hour of trading, leading losses among major Asian benchmarks.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 extended gains from Tuesday and jumped 0.29 per cent to end at 7,035.3 as the country’s overall inflation rate for October slowed to 4.8 per cent, its lowest rate since January 2022.
South Korea’s Kospi dropped slightly, ending at 2,519.81 after reaching a two-month high on Tuesday, but the small-cap Kosdaq ended 0.73 per cent up at 822.44.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 0.26 per cent to close at 33,321.22, marking three successive days of losses, while the Topix was 0.51 per cent lower and ended at 2,364.5.
Overnight in the U.S., all three major indexes gained after Waller’s comments that the Federal Reserve could be done raising rates, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average gaining 0.24 per cent.
In contrast, Governor Michelle Bowman said further rate hikes will likely be needed, “so as to keep policy sufficiently restrictive to bring inflation down to our 2 percent target in a timely way.”
