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Asian Stocks were mixed on Wednesday, as strong buying of technology stocks helped lift some benchmarks, while oil prices rose more than 1% after President donald trump Ordered a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” in Venezuela.
Trump’s move came after U.S. forces seized an oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast last week, an unusual move that followed a buildup of military forces in the region as his administration stepped up pressure on the country’s authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro.
US futures declined.
tokyoThe Nikkei 225 fell 0.3% to 49,237.58, as traders awaited a decision by the Bank of Japan on whether it will raise interest rates at the end of the week.
The government reported that the total value of machinery orders received by 280 manufacturers declined 6.8% in October compared with the previous month, in line with other signs of weak factory activity.
China’s markets remained marginally higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.2% to 25,291.44, while the Shanghai Composite Index was up about 0.2% at 3,831.43.
In South Korea, the Kospi rose 0.7% to 4,028.93, helped by computer chip maker SK Hynix which rose 2.8%, and a 3.6% jump for Samsung Electronics.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.2% to 8,581.00.
On Tuesday, US stocks fell during a mixed day of trading after reports on the US economy did little to dispel uncertainty about where interest rates might go.
The US unemployment rate in November was at its worst level since 2021, but employers also added more jobs last month than economists expected, a report said. Meanwhile, a separate report said an underlying measure of the strength of U.S. retailers’ revenues rose more than economists expected in October.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% to 6,800.26. It remains slightly below its all-time high set last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6% to 48,114.26 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2% to 23,111.46.
Mixed data kept traders’ expectations intact that the Federal Reserve may continue to cut interest rates in 2026. What the Fed does with interest rates is a top driver for financial markets because low rates can boost the economy and prices for investment, even though they can also worsen inflation.
A report due Thursday will show just how bad inflation was last month, and economists expect prices for American consumers to rise faster than anyone expected.
A report released on Tuesday suggested pricing pressures are accelerating, with the average selling price for businesses climbing at one of the fastest rates since mid-2022. Preliminary data from S&P Global also said overall business activity growth slowed to its weakest level since June.
Oil trading companies suffered the most losses on Wall Street as crude oil prices continued to fall.
Expectations that companies are pumping more than enough oil to meet world demand have sent the price of a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude to its lowest level since 2021.
Early Wednesday, U.S. benchmark crude was up 73 cents at $56.00 a barrel. crude oilThe international benchmark, rose 71 cents to $59.63 a barrel.
APA’s stock sank 5.2%. Marathon Petroleum fell 4.7% and Halliburton fell 4.3%.
Artificial-intelligence technology stocks remained mixed. Oracle rose 2%, and Broadcom added 0.4%. Despite reporting stronger-than-expected profits in the latest quarter, both posted huge losses last week.
CoreWeave, which rents access to top-of-the-line AI chips, fell 3.9%.
Questions remain about whether all the spending on AI technology will generate the kind of profits and productivity that will make it worth the expense.
In other deals early Wednesday, the US dollar rose to 155.12 JPY from 154.73 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1732 from $1.1748.
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AP Business writers Matt Ott and Stan Cho contributed.
