Home World Asia-Pacific stocks mostly fall after hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation report; New Zealand dollar jumps

SINGAPORE — Shares in Asia-Pacific mostly slipped in Wednesday trade following a hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation report released overnight.

The Shanghai composite in mainland China declined 0.82% by the afternoon while the Shenzhen component fell 0.379%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shed 0.58%.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 0.27% while the Topix index sat on the flatline. The Kospi in South Korea dipped 0.35%.

Meanwhile, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 edged 0.12% higher.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.28%.

In other developments, Singapore’s economy grew 14.3% year-on-year in the second quarter, official advanced estimates showed Wednesday. It 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.

The Straits Times index in Singapore shed 0.18% in Wednesday trade.

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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.

New Zealand dollar jumps

The New Zealand dollar jumped 1% on Wednesday to $0.7015. The gains came after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand announced a reduction in the current level of monetary stimulus, with additional asset purchases under the Large Scale Asset Purchase program to be halted by July 23.

The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.723 after a recent rise from below 92.4.

The Japanese yen traded at 110.48 per dollar, weaker than levels around 110 against the greenback seen earlier in the week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7458, lower than levels around $0.75 seen yesterday.

Oil prices fell in the afternoon of Asia trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures slipping 0.31% to $76.25 per barrel. U.S. crude futures shed 0.43% to $74.93 per barrel.

Source: CNBC

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