CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are mixed on Wednesday despite the record highs overnight on Wall Street amid continued optimism over potential coronavirus vaccines and revived U.S. stimulus talks.
The Australian market slipped into negative territory after a positive start following the record highs overnight on Wall Street and as data showed Australia has emerged from recession.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is declining 23.10 points or 0.35 percent to 6,565.40, after rising to a high of 6,616.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 24.00 points or 0.35 percent to 6,788.20. Australian stocks closed notably higher on Tuesday.
Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Group are advancing more than 1 percent, while Fortescue Metals is down 0.6 percent.
Gold miners are higher after gold prices rebounded overnight from near five-month lows hit in the previous session. Evolution Mining is rising almost 1 percent and Newcrest Mining is adding 0.7 percent.
Oil stocks are also advancing even as crude oil prices fell to a one-week low overnight. Santos is rising almost 1 percent, Oil Search is higher by 0.3 percent and Woodside Petroleum is edging up 0.1 percent.
The big four banks are mixed. ANZ Banking is advancing almost 1 percent and Westpac is adding 0.3 percent, while Commonwealth Bank is declining 0.4 percent and National Australia Bank is down 0.1 percent.
Westpac has agreed to sell its general insurance unit to German insurer Allianz for A$725 million.
Crown Resorts said it has appointed a chief compliance and financial crimes officer after the NSW inquiry earlier this year into allegations of money laundering at the company's Melbourne casino also resulted in the regulator withholding approval of the Crown's Sydney casino license. Shares of Crown Resorts are down 0.1 percent.
Shares of Mesoblast are gaining more than 7 percent after the biotech company said that the U.S Food and Drug Administration or FDA has granted Fast Track designation for remestemcel-L in the treatment of acute respiratory distress syndrome or ARDS due to COVID-19 infection.
In economic news, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Australia's gross domestic product rose a seasonally adjusted 3.3 percent on quarter in the third quarter of 2020. That beat expectations for a gain of 2.6 percent following the 7.0 percent drop in the second quarter.
The Japanese market is modestly lower in choppy trade despite the record highs overnight on Wall Street amid continued optimism about progress on coronavirus vaccines and an economic recovery.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index is down 51.10 points or 0.19 percent to 26,736.44, after touching a high of 26,889.90 earlier. The Japanese market rose on Tuesday.
Market heavyweight SoftBank Group and Fast Retailing are declining more than 1 percent each. In the tech space, Advantest is adding 0.4 percent and Tokyo Electron is edging up 0.1 percent.
The major exporters are mostly higher on a slightly weaker yen. Canon is rising more than 2 percent, Panasonic is advancing more than 1 percent and Mitsubishi Electric is adding almost 1 percent, while Sony is declining 2 percent.
In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial is rising more than 1 percent and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial is up 0.2 percent. Among automakers, Honda is gaining more than 3 percent and Toyota is adding 0.6 percent.
Among the other major gainers, Fujikura is gaining almost 5 percent and Kubota Corp. is rising more than 4 percent. Yokohama Rubber and NSK are higher by more than 3 percent each.
Conversely, Nexon Co. and Toho Co. are losing almost 3 percent each, while Recruit Holdings, Chugai Pharmaceutical and Konami Holdings are lower by more than 2 percent each.
On the economic front, Japan will see November numbers for its consumer confidence index today.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 104 yen-range on Wednesday.
Elsewhere in Asia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia are also lower, while South Korea, Shanghai, New Zealand, Taiwan and Indonesia are higher.
On Wall Street, stocks closed higher on Tuesday following the release of upbeat Chinese manufacturing data. Continued optimism about a potential coronavirus vaccine also generated buying interest, with Pfizer and BioNTech applying to the European Medicines Agency for conditional marketing authorization of their vaccine. Meanwhile, traders largely shrugged off a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing a slowdown in the pace of growth in U.S. manufacturing activity.
The Dow climbed 185.28 points or 0.6 percent to 29,823.92, the Nasdaq surged up 156.37 points or 1.3 percent to 12,355.11 and the S&P 500 jumped 40.82 points or 1.1 percent at 3,662.45.
The major European markets also moved to the upside on Tuesday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index soared by 1.9 percent, the French CAC 40 Index surged up by 1.1 percent and the German DAX Index advanced by 0.7 percent.
Crude oil prices drifted lower and the most active crude futures contract dropped to a one-week closing low on Tuesday, weighed down by the decision of OPEC and its allies to delay a discussion on output cuts by a couple of days. WTI crude for January ended down by $0.79 or about 1.7 percent at $45.55 a barrel.
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