Major Asian stock markets advanced Wednesday after Wall Street fell, while Chinese and Japanese markets were closed for holidays.
Overnight, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index lost 0.7%, dragged down by more declines for tech stocks including Apple and Microsoft.
The Hang Seng HSI, -0.57% in Hong Kong was little changed at 28,561.70 while the S&P-ASX 200 XJO, +0.39% in Sydney added 0.4% to 48,453.94.
New Zealand’s benchmark NZ50GR, -0.49% lost 1.1%, Singapore STI, -0.99% was down 0.8% and Bangkok Y9999, -0.53% fell 0.7%.
“With relatively light news flow and macro data, price action in the region was subdued in holiday-thinned conditions,” Anderson Alves of ActivTrades said in a report.
Investors are watching corporate earnings and looking ahead to Friday’s U.S. jobs data.
Most economic data point to improving conditions but markets worry about renewed coronavirus outbreaks and a possible uptick in inflation.
Remarks by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Tuesday appeared to stoke those worries. Selling on Wall Street accelerated after Yellen said interest rates may have to rise to keep the economy from overheating.
