CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are in negative territory on Wednesday following the weak cues overnight from Wall Street after data showed U.S. manufacturing activity contracted in the September to its lowest in more than a decade. The U.S. data followed the release of weak manufacturing data earlier from Europe and added to concerns about slowing global economic growth.
The Australian market is notably lower.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is declining 96.70 points or 1.43 percent to 6,646.10, while the broader All Ordinaries Index is losing 92.00 points or 1.34 percent to 6,761.00. Australian stocks closed higher on Tuesday after the Reserve Bank of Australia reduced its interest rates further as widely expected.
The major miners are notably lower. Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto is losing almost 2 percent each, while BHP Billiton is declining more than 1 percent.
In the banking space, ANZ Banking, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are lower in a range of 1.3 percent to 1.6 percent, while National Australia Bank is losing more than 2 percent.
National Australia Bank said it will set aside another A$1.18 billion as provision for customer-related remediation related to the financial services royal commission and noted that the provisions are expected to reduce its second-half cash earnings by an estimated A$1.12 billion after tax.
Oil stocks are also weak after crude oil prices ended lower overnight. Santos is losing 2 percent, Oil Search is declining more than 1 percent and Woodside Petroleum is down 1 percent.
Bucking the trend, gold miner Newcrest Mining is adding 0.3 percent and Evolution Mining is rising 0.2 percent after gold prices rose overnight on safe-haven appeal.
Mayne Pharma Group said it has signed a 20-year supply and license agreement with Belgium-based Mithra Pharmaceuticals to commercialize a new contraceptive drug expected to be launched in the first half of 2021. Shares of Mayne Pharma are gaining more than 13 percent.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is flat against the U.S. dollar on Wednesday. The local currency was quoted at $0.6702, unchanged from Tuesday.
The Japanese market is declining.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is losing 146.90 points or 0.67 percent to 21,738.34, after touching a low of 21,725.23 in early trades. Japanese stocks rose on Tuesday despite the release of weak economic data.
The major exporters are mixed on a stronger safe-haven yen. Sony is declining 2 percent and and Mitsubishi Electric is lower by more than 1 percent, while Panasonic is rising 0.3 percent and Canon is adding 0.2 percent.
In the auto sector, Honda Motor is lower by more than 2 percent and Toyota Motor is losing almost 1 percent. In the tech space, Tokyo Electron is lower by 0.5 percent, while Advantest is adding almost 1 percent.
Market heavyweight SoftBank is losing almost 3 percent, while Fast Retailing is rising 0.2 percent.
Among oil stocks, Inpex is declining almost 2 percent and Japan Petroleum is down 0.7 percent after crude oil prices closed lower overnight.
Among the other major gainers, Sumco Corp. is rising more than 3 percent and Kansai Electric Power is advancing almost 3 percent. Casio Computer and NTT Data are higher by more than 2 percent each.
On the flip side, Nissan Chemical is losing more than 4 percent, while Yaskawa Electric and Rakuten are lower by almost 4 percent each.
On the economic front, the Bank of Japan said that the monetary base in Japan was up 3.0 percent on year in September to 513.826 trillion yen, accelerating from the 2.8 percent annual increase in August. The adjusted monetary base jumped 4.7 percent on year to 511.944 trillion yen.
Japan will also see September results for its consumer confidence index today.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the upper 107 yen-range on Wednesday.
Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea, Singapore, New Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan are also lower. The markets in China remain closed for the National Day holiday.
On Wall Street, stocks closed lower on Tuesday following the release of a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing a continued contraction in U.S. manufacturing activity in the month of September. With the unexpected decrease, the index fell to its lowest level since June of 2009, the last month of the Great Recession. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump blamed the weak manufacturing data on the Federal Reserve, which he blasted as 'pathetic' in a post on Twitter.
The Dow plunged 343.79 points or 1.3 percent to 26,573.04, the Nasdaq slumped 90.65 points or 1.1 percent to 7,908.68 and the S&P 500 tumbled 36.49 points or 1.2 percent to 2,940.25.
The major European markets moved to the downside on Tuesday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.7 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 1.3 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively.
Crude oil prices drifted lower on Tuesday as weak economic data from across the globe continued to raise concerns about the outlook for energy demand. WTI crude for November delivery declined $0.45 or about 0.8 percent to $53.62 a barrel.
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