TOKYO/HONG KONG/SHANGHAI/SYDNEY (dpa-AFX) – The most important Asian stock markets extended their losses on Wednesday. This continued the cautious business ahead of the central bank meetings this week.
New data from Japan contributed to the subdued development. Japanese exports fell for the second month in a row in August. The value of exports fell by 0.8 percent to almost eight trillion yen (51 billion euros) compared to the previous year, primarily due to a sharp drop in demand from China, said Japan’s Ministry of Finance. In July, exports in the world’s third largest economy fell for the first time since February 2021.
Economists see this development as a worrying trend for the country, which is heavily dependent on its export economy, even if the decline was somewhat smaller than experts had expected on average. The Japanese leading index Nikkei 225 closed 0.66 percent lower at 33,073.78 points.
The stance of the US Federal Reserve is also causing concern for market participants. “We expect that the propensity for further tightening of the USmonetary policy remains in place for the time being,” said the Landesbank Baden-Württemberg. “The US economy remains robust. As a result, the US Federal Reserve is likely to maintain its elevated key interest rate level for longer than recently thought.”
The markets received no support from the Chinese central bank. The central bank stuck to the existing interest rate level. The CSI 300, which tracks the share prices of the largest companies on China’s Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, lost 0.15 percent to 3714.90 points, while the Hang Seng Index (Hang Seng) of China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region fell 0.27 percent fell to 17947.81 points.
Things also went down in Australia. The Australian leading index S&P ASX 200 closed 0.46 percent lower at 7163.30 points. Yields continued to rise on the country’s bond market./mf/zb