Home World Asia-Pacific stocks mixed after hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation report

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Wednesday morning trade following the release of a hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation report for June.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.41% while the Topix index shed 0.21%. The Kospi in South Korea dipped 0.51%.

Meanwhile, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.1% higher.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.25%.

In other developments, Singapore’s economy grew 14.3% year-on-year in the second quarter, official advanced estimates showed Wednesday. That was slightly above economist expectations for a 14.2% year-on-year jump, according to a Reuters poll.

Still, the economy contracted by 2% as compared with the previous quarter, Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a Wednesday statement.

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Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 107.39 points to 34,888.79 while the S&P 500 slipped 0.35% to 4,369.21. The Nasdaq Composite dipped 0.38% to 14,677.65.

The losses stateside came after the U.S. Labor Department reported Tuesday that in June inflation surged at its fastest pace in nearly 13 years. Consumer prices increase 5.4% in June as compared with a year earlier — the largest monthly gain since August 2008.

Currencies and oil

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.801 after a recent rise from below 92.4.

The Japanese yen traded at 110.62 per dollar, weaker than levels around 110 against the greenback seen earlier in the week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7436, lower than levels around $0.75 seen yesterday.

Oil prices fell in the morning of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures slipping 0.34% to $76.23 per barrel. U.S. crude futures slipped 0.36% to $74.98 per barrel.

Source: CNBC

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